• 22 Jan, 2024
• Cedric Shimuli

Africa’s contribution to global tea production escalates

Africa is home to thirteen tea-producing countries and their tea production is an essential part of the global tea economy, and in fact, represents the biggest share of the world’s tea exports. Investments targeting infrastructure, replanting, clearing new lands and new technologies are further strengthening tea production in Africa, positioning the individual countries for continued growth. By Barbara Dufrêne. All images courtesy of author.

Kenya is the third largest tea producer in the world and holds the leading spot in global tea exports followed by Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, which all contribute importantly to global trade. Continued investments aim to further develop this vital asset for their national economies by supplying even more teas to old and new customers.

It is worth noting, however, that tea is not native to Africa – commercial planting was introduced under colonial rule, with tea seeds from the United Kingdom’s Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew and Edinburgh and later from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India.The African tea-growing areas are mostly located in mountainous regions, with cool clean air and abundant rains. They stretch from the gentle hills of Cameroon in the West to the high plateaus and mountain slopes on both sides of the Great Rift Valley, that cuts steeply down through the East of the African continent.

Fresh leaf arrival in the factory, Rwanda

According to London Tea Auction records, the first successful tea planting was carried out in Malawi, near Blantyre in 1878; followed by planting in Uganda and Rhodesia – Zimbabwe today- in 1900.The first tea planting in Kenya took place in 1904 with more tea planting starting in 1920 in Tanzania and Mozambique. Tea had been introduced to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean on an experimental basis as early as 1871 by a French settler, with commercial production initiated in 1891. Much later tea was introduced by Belgian settlers in Burundi in the 1930s, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1940s, and in Rwanda in the 1950s. In 1955, the Commonwealth Development Corporation started to grow tea in the coastal area of West Cameroon. Tea has been thriving all over with crops on a steady upward trend, generating prosperity through modern agri-technology and manufacturing methods that retain excellent quality for leaf and liquor.

The many political changes brought about after the end of World War II have shifted the remaining colonial rules. Between 1960 and 1961, all African countries had become independent nations, one by one. With some of the new borders cutting through ancestral territories, creating ethnic strife, civil war and undemocratic rulers generating political disorder, some severe disruptions have occurred in the period following independence, namely in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Rwanda, and Mozambique and more new nations were created through further territorial separations after long conflicts.

After independence, additional countries launched commercial tea cultivation, namely Zambia and South Africa in 1964 and Ethiopia in the 1970s. Today, there are 13 African nations that cultivate tea commercially. This crop is considered vital for generating export revenue and employment, whilst also providing good cups for a growing domestic demand.

Africa’s place in the global tea market

According to 2020 data published by the London based International Tea Committee (ITC), Africa’s 13 tea-producing countries generate a total production of 795,600 metric tonnes (mt) of tea. With a growth rate of +36.4 per cent over the past 10 years, the total African tea production represents, however, only 12.7 per cent of the world production, which is dominated by the giants China and India, with respective shares of 47 per cent and 20 per cent of the world’s total tea output.

Bearing in mind that in China and India, the domestic consumers drink most of their teas themselves, while the African tea-producing countries manufacture their teas first as an export revenue crop. African tea production has therefore grown into a vital part of the global tea economy and represents the biggest share of the world’s tea exports with a volume of 713,300 mt in 2020, i.e., 39 per cent of the internationally traded teas, compared to a share of 34 per cent in 2011.