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. 

Click here to view the live auction

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;

1. Delay in cancellation of VAT bonds
2. Delay in reactivating archived T 810 forms
3. 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.

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.

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.