EATTA

Mr. Simon Gikanga

Mr. Simon Gikang’a has over 24 years practical experience in freight forwarding and logistics business. He holds an MBA degree in strategic management from the University of Nairobi and a B com - Marketing (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi. He is also a holder of a post graduate diploma in Clearing, Warehousing and Practical Forwarding DCWF (Bandari College), certificate in Logistics management, Warehouse operations & Design (Logistics Centre- University Campus Cranefield - UK) and FIATA (Zurich – Switzerland ) certificate of competence in freight forwarding. He is currently the General Manager- Freight of Chai Trading Co Ltd (A subsidiary Co. of KTDA Holdings Ltd) and previously he was the Operations Manager at Mitchell Cotts Freight K. Ltd. Prior to this, he was working with Afro Forwarders Ltd as the Resident representative based in Dar-es- salaam Tanzania.

Mr. Simon Gikang’a is also the current chairman of the Tea Warehousing Association (TWA) and a member of the EATTA Finance and Administration Committee.

Live Tea Auction

Click here to view the live auction

Meeting between KRA and EATTA

In the last update from the secretariat we informed you that we had written to KRA seeking an appointment to raise concerns on various issues of concern to the tea industry. We obtained an appointment for 20th March 2013 and together with a few members of the trade, we went and met with the Senior Deputy Commissioner for Southern Region as well the Line Managers responsible for issues of concern to the tea industry.

The issues discussed in the meeting were;

Delay in cancellation of VAT bonds
Delay in reactivating archived T 810 forms
Lack of staff to release customs holds of containers

The outcome of our discussion was as follows:

1. Delay in cancellation of VAT bonds

Some of our members have been following up with KRA for cancellation of bonds going back 7 years. KRA informed the people in the meeting that part of the problem maybe exporters who fill the certificates of exports documents manually instead of the required online process. The Deputy Commissioner in charge of port operations committed to look into the matter and in a further follow up meeting held on Thursday 4th April a way was found to sort out the outstanding bond cancellation for one of our members.

The secretariat will regularly follow up with the DC – Port Operations to ensure that the outstanding bonds are cancelled.

2. Reactivation of T810

Tea buyers buy none Kenyan teas in the Mombasa Auction and in some cases the teas may remain in the Transit warehouse for extended periods waiting to be re-exported. A concern raised in the meeting was that the T810 documents for import entries are archived. Reactivating the archived T810’s takes very long causing delays in preparation of export entries.

KRA committed to assign a person to specifically be responsible to reactivate the import entry documents. The exporters were advised that the re-activation window is limited so they need to be keen to process the export entries immediately they request for re-activation to avoid being timed out. The EATTA team requested that the activation of T810 should have some flexibility to make amendments in cases where the wrong number of packages is keyed in.

3. Lack of staff to release container customs hold

EATTA members raised a concern with the lack of adequate staff at shed 5 in the port to release custom holds on containers ready for export. It was reported that because the empty containers are sometimes located
A long distance from the port an exporter needing to export may require to work late into the night to get the containers into the port. On many occasions the customs officers are not available to release the customs holds. It was agreed that the solution to address the problem was for the exporters to communicate with officers at shed 5 on the day they expect to bring in containers after hours. That way the revenue officers will be on standby to offer services to the exporters. KRA also requested that as much as possible exporters should try and bring the containers for release of hold during working hours.

Failure of Simba System

On many occasions the Simba system experiences downtime causing delays in processing exports. KRA officers informed EATTA that the reason for downtime is the process of upgrading Simba that is ongoing. As a solution it was agreed that when the system upgrade is happening KRA will be notifying EATTA when scheduled upgrades are due. Another problem is the slow connectivity of computers in shed 5. This is being addressed by KRA. A longer term solution is a seamless connection between KWATOS and SIMBA.

Slow speed in selling of tea

Some buyers have raised concern about the speed that brokers are selling tea in the auction. In the last Tea Etiquette workshop held in 2011 one of the resolutions passed was that brokers need to maintain a speed of selling five lots per minute.

Starting from sale 6 the secretariat has been monitoring the sale of tea through the auction so as to maintain a level of efficiency. This link shows an analysis of the brokers’ average speed for each of the auctions between sale 6 and 16.We urge all brokers to maintain the standard of five lots per minute particularly during this season where there is a huge amount of tea on offer in the auction.

Tea Production Process

Plant Grow and Plucking - The Tea Plant:

There are two major strains of the tea bush, which are:

Camellia Sinensis - Pertaining to China, Tibet and Japan. 9 - 15 feet tall, 2 inch leaves. Resistant to very cold temperatures.
Camellia Assamica - Pertaining to North East India. 45 - 60 feet tall? (More of a tree than a bush.) 6 inch leaves. Prefers warmer climates. There are numerous hybrids that originate from the above two species, which have been developed to suit different conditions.

Plant Grow:

Tea grows mainly between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, requiring up to 1000-1250mm of rain per year, as well as a temperature ideally between 10 to 30 degrees centigrade. It will grow from sea level up to 2400 metres. The tea garden (tea estate) is where the flavour potential of the tea will be generated, and so great care and attention is taken to insure that the best possible growing conditions are created. This means in some cases planting trees to generate shade, or planting wind breaks, to prevent damage from strong winds, particularly on the plains of Assam. Plants are placed in rows some approximately one metre apart. The bushes must be pruned every four to five years in order to rejuvenate the bush and keeping it at a convenient height for the pluckers to pick the tea from. This is known as the "Plucking Table". A tea bush may happily produce good tea for 50 – 70 years, but after 50 years the plants yield will reduce. At this time the older bushes will be considered for replacement by younger plants grown on the estates nursery.

Plucking:

Plucking rounds depend on climate; new growth can be plucked at 7 - 12 day intervals during the growing season. Tea harvesting is exhaustive and labour intensive (between two and three thousand tea leaves are needed to produce just a kilo of unprocessed tea) and is a procedure of considerable skill. Tea pluckers, learn to recognise the exact moment at which the flush should be removed. This is important, to ensure the tenderest leaves are plucked to produce the finest teas. After plucking, leaves are transported to factories for processing. The fields are normally adjacent to the factory.

Manufacture

Black Tea manufacture:

Withering:

The objective of withering is to reduce the moisture in the t ealeaf by up to 70% (varies from region to region). Tea is laid out on a wire mesh in troughs. Air is then passed through the tea removing the moisture in a uniform way. This process takes around 12 to 17 hours. At the end of this time the leaf is limp and pliable and so will roll well.

Rolling:

Tea is placed into a rolling machine, which rotates horizontally on the rolling table. This action creates the twisted wiry looking tealeaves. During the rolling process the leaves are also broken open, which starts the third process - oxidisation.

Oxidisation:

Once rolling is complete, the tea is either put into troughs or laid out on tables whereby the enzymes inside the tealeaf come in to contact with the air and start to oxidise. This creates the flavour, colour and strength of the tea. It is during this process that the tealeaf changes from green, through light brown, to a deep brown, and happens at about 26 degrees centigrade. This stage is critical to the final flavour of the tea, if left too long the flavour will be spoilt. Oxidisation takes from between half an hour to 2 hours. This process is monitored constantly with the use of a thermometer along with years of experience. The tea then passes to the final stage of drying.

Drying:

To stop the oxidising process the tea is passed through hot air dryers. This reduces the total moisture content down to about 3%. The oxidisation will be stopped by this process, and now the dried tea is ready to be sorted into grades before packing.

Green Tea manufacture:

The main difference when making green tea is that the oxidisation process is omitted, which allows the tea to remain green in colour, and very delicate in flavour. In order to ensure that the freshly picked leaf does not oxidise, before the tea is rolled, the leaf is either pan fried, or steamed. This will prevent the interaction of the enzymes in the leaf, and so no oxidisation can take place. In China some green teas are withered before being pan fried, but more usually in green tea manufacture, the withering process is omitted as well. Rolling, drying, and sorting follow.

Tasting and Blending

Processing and grading are exhaustive, and vitally important to teas manufacture. The teas are not necessarily ready to be packaged and sold, and this is where the skills of the tea blender enter the picture.

At Twinings’ Head Office in England, our expert blenders select teas from thousands of different tea estates and yet still arrive at the exact flavour for a particular blend. No two batches of tea are ever alike, even if they come from the same garden, which makes the art of blending extremely complex.

Weather, altitude, moisture and soil each contribute to tea characteristics; tea changes according to its season, and even to the time of day at which it is picked. To produce the same, optimum blend every time, the importance of the blender’s art is inestimable.

At Twinings a tea taster and blender will train for five years, before they are fully qualified, although they are constantly learning and developing their skills. Small samples of tea are first obtained from tea brokers and tasted for quality, flavour as well as being assessed for colour. Duly approved, the teas are then purchased from markets around the world. Professional tasters will now select teas to produce the desired blend. Each sample blend is brewed, and undergoes a methodical tasting procedure.

Freshly drawn water is boiled in a copper kettle and poured over five grammes of tea in a special white, lidded ceramic cup. The leaves are infused for precisely six minutes, after which the “liquor” is poured off into a bowl ready for tasting.

Tasters examine both dry and wet leaves, judging the brew’s colour and clarity. Then using special spoons, tasters suck the tea sharply against their palates and expel it into spittoons. So well seasoned are tasters’ palates that they can detect the slightest variation on the standard they seek.

The taster's job however has not finished, as the tea still needs to be tasted after blending, and during the packing stage. Only when this has been approved, will the tea be ready for distribution to Twinings’ many retail outlets throughout the world, and of course to consumer’s teapots.

Sorting and Packaging

International Tea Day May 21

International Tea Day is an opportunity to celebrate the cultural heritage, health benefits and economic importance of tea, while working to make its production sustainable “from field to cup” ensuring its benefits for people, cultures and the environment continue for generations.

When is International Tea Day?

International Tea Day is marked annually on May 21st, in accordance with the United Nations' resolution.

Tea production and processing are a main source of livelihoods for millions of families. The celebration promotes the sustainable production, consumption, and trade of tea, and offers an opportunity for actors at global, regional and national levels to ensure that the tea sector continues to play a role in reducing extreme poverty, fighting hunger and safeguarding natural resources.

History of International Tea Day

The International Tea Day campaign was launched in 2005 by the trade unions, small tea growers and civil society organizations in Asia and Africa to address the issues of living wages for workers and fair prices for small tea producers.

Why Do We Mark International Tea Day?

The day dedicated to the tea trade aims to increase public awareness of how it affects the lives of farmers and workers. While tea enthusiasts worldwide also celebrate this occasion. The United Nations marks International Tea Day every year on May 21st to educate the public on global concerns, promoting sustainable tea manufacturing, business, and consumption. The goal of this day is to recognise the vulnerable situations faced by tea producers worldwide, focusing on climate change, technology, trends in production, and consumption in the tea industry, and addressing current living conditions and worker-related policies.

Key messages

Tea production and processing represent a source of livelihoods for millions of families, including millions in the least developed countries.
The tea sector is a multi-billion dollar industry that can support economies and contribute to sustainable food systems.
Tea export earnings help to finance food import bills, supporting the economies of major tea-producing countries.
The tea sector contributes to socio-economic development, representing a major source of employment and income for millions of poor families worldwide.
Tea thrives in very specific agro-ecological conditions and environments, which are often impacted by climate change.
Smallholder tea producers need our support to strengthen their business model and environment and overcome the challenges they face.
In order to ensure benefits for both people and the environment, the tea value chain must be efficient and sustainable at all stages, from field to cup.