BUJUMBURA August 18th (ABP) – The sales volume of dry tea at the Burundi Tea Board (OTB) amounts, for the year 2020-2021, to nearly 10,390 tons of dry tea for a single figure business of 42,449,428,695 BIF, or an average sales rate of 4,000 BIF per kg, according to the Head of the department in charge of monitoring and evaluation, Mr. Georges Sabukiza.
If they compare sales, those of the year 2020-2021 are up 5% in volume compared to those of the year 2019-2020, with a decrease of 2% in turnover. Even the average selling price in BIF fell by 7%, he said.
According to him, that fall in prices was due to the consequences of Covid-19, not to mention the increase in the supply of tea following the decision of Kenya, the third largest producer in the world, to suspend direct sales in favor of Mombasa auctions.
Mr. Sabukiza also noted that the production of dry tea for this fiscal year stands at 10,662,453 tonnes out of a forecast of 11,000 tons, or an achievement rate of 96.05%. Compared to the previous year, production for the year 2020-2021 is down 2.41%.
The green leaves produced are estimated at 50,548.8 tons on a forecast of 53,278 tons. The village tea production amounts to 37,948 tons, while the industrial block of the OTB produced 12,600 tons, a respective achievement rate of 98.06% and 86.4% of the annual forecast.
As for the constraints encountered, they are for the most part recurrent. The head of the department in charge of monitoring and evaluation at the OTB cited the untimely breaks in the supply of electricity to REGIDESO, and the poor condition of the green leaf service tracks which caused loss of green leaves before the machining because, he said, the vehicles transporting these green leaves get stuck in those bad tracks from time to time by landslides or trampling.