EATTA Press release by the New Chairman Mr. Nelson Orgut

East Africa Tea Trade Association 53rd Annual General Meeting

26th March 2010

Welcome to this press briefing. I am the new Chairman of the new company the East Africa Tea Trade Association. I am very proud to have been elected today. We are navigating uncharted territories but with the board that has been constituted today that combines long experience and new energy and vibrancy, we are more than a match for the opportunities and challenges that we will come across.

Last year the tea prices were the best they have in a decade. Tea sold at an average of $ 2.82 per kilo globally. Some 279 million kilograms of tea was sold through the Mombasa tea auction. Of this- Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda sold 97% of the quantities. The auction remains an important medium for the tea trade in Africa. This is a time of renewed optimism for our members. Coupled with this is the birth of the new EATTA.

The secretariat has made important headway in the implementation of the strategic plan. The year was eventful with the appointment of a Managing Director as well as functional heads to operations and marketing. The expectation of the membership is that a fully staffed and empowered secretariat will be better positioned to address the interests of its members. The members have today appointed a board of 13 directors consisting of five producer members – two from Kenya and one each from Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, three buyers, one member each representing brokers, packers and warehouses and an independent director.

The broad objectives of EATTA include

• Reengineering the Mombasa tea auction system to speed up cycle times and reduce costs by implementing a 24/7 online trading system.
• Becoming the definitive source of tea trade information and statistics
• Driving the identity of and growth in demand for African teas
• Building stronger linkages with policy makers as well as other local, regional and global stakeholders

As part of the resolutions of today our members have adopted the new articles of association recognizing EATTA as a company limited by guarantee to substitute the existing ones for EATTA as a society. Our members also adopted the new EATTA rule book. A major component of which is introducing the new electronic tea payment system. This system will provide reassurance to producers and brokers that they get paid the proceeds of the sale of their teas efficiently. Members have approved the system and it will now run as a parallel system to the previous auction trading system so that the members have a choice on the system to use.

As part of efforts to modernize the auction so as to make it efficient and to reduce the cycle time, an ambitious plan to automate the Mombasa auction is in the works.  As part of the process IT consultants were commissioned to carry out a feasibility study that will guide the implementation of the project. The Feasibility study will provide the basis for the way forward. Our aim is to make the auction open and accessible 24/7 which will significantly reduce the cycle time from the current two weeks.

EATTA is working with relevant authorities on harmonizing and enhancing the tea industry standards in line with global trends. We have set as goals to have our members seek   principal standards; ISO 22000:2005 (Food Safety management system) and Quality management System (QMS) certification that will enable us continue to maintain the high reputation that we are recognized for. Last week the secretariat organised a highly successful food safety standards and certification workshop for our members.

Identifying new markets is an integral part of the EATTA mandate. In this regard EATTA has secured funding from the EU to develop capacity in our members to better market tea in existing markets as well as new products for the existing markets.  EATTA has joined the International Tea Committee as associates where we can access up to date statistics and information to share with our members.

We are also driving a taskforce set up together with, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Foundation and Tea Board of Kenya on intellectual property value capture for tea that has the potential to significantly enhance the price we negotiate when selling our tea. The initiative has started in Kenya and will be extended to our other member countries.

Tea is an important foreign exchange earner for each of our member countries. We feel that going forward we will get the appropriate level of coverage. This is a beginning of a new level of engagement.

For more information

Dr. Kipkirui Arap Lang’at OGW

Managing Director

East Africa Tea Trade Association

041 2228460 / 041 2220093

Tea Trade Centre