The Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) has announced that orthodox tea will be traded at the Mombasa Tea Auction for the first time, starting on September 17, The Standard reports.

TBK chief executive Willy Mutai said the country now has sufficient volumes to sustain sales at the auction, which has historically offered only black CTC tea from East Africa.

The move marks a significant step in diversifying Kenya's tea export offerings, moving beyond traditional CTC (Cut, Tear, Curl) teas towards higher-value orthodox varieties.

Producers are required to catalogue their teas by August 28, Mutai said at a stakeholders’ consultative meeting in Mombasa, as quoted by The Standard.

The East Africa Tea Traders Association (EATTA), which operates the auction, has created a dedicated line for orthodox tea producers. Mutai confirmed that 34 licensed factories are already producing the variety, including Siomo Tea, Choimim, Nndarawetta and Matunwa.

“We are working hard to ensure that we sell all the orthodox teas. If we continue leveraging our volumes, the price could even triple what we are currently selling in our orthodox teas,” Mutai said, as quoted by Kilimo News.

“Currently, the orthodox tea is fetching between $3.4 – $4, and I am sure if we remain persistent, this could go up to $10 in the Chinese market.”

Globally, according to FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) data, orthodox teas typically fetch between $3.50 and 7 per kilogram—a premium compared with standard CTC grades—suggesting Kenya’s move into orthodox auctions could boost earnings from specialty tea markets.

Kenya is the world’s largest exporter of tea and the third-largest producer after China and India. The sector generated KES 215.21bn ($1.66bn) in 2024, including KES 181.69bn ($1.40bn) from exports, according to the Central Bank of Kenya and the Tea Board of Kenya.

Among the factories now producing orthodox tea are smallholder-run plants under the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), a cooperative-owned company managing more than 600,000 small-scale farmers. KTDA has 34 factories dedicated to pure orthodox production.

Several larger factories previously specialising in CTC have also invested in additional production lines, including Tumaita, Kimunye, Githuki, Imenti, Chelal and Besonik.

The Mombasa Tea Auction is the world’s largest black tea auction by volume, handling exports not only from Kenya but also from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique. The addition of orthodox tea trading marks the first major product expansion at the auction in decades.