Top price of Kenya's best-grade tea slips at latest auction

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The highest price of top-grade Kenyan tea slipped to $3.10 per kg at auction this week from $3.70 at the previous sale, Africa Tea Brokers said on Tuesday. Kenya is the world's leading exporter of black tea and the crop is a major foreign exchange earner for the economy, alongside horticulture and tourism. Best Broken Pekoe Ones (BP1s) fetched $2.00-$3.10 per kg, compared with $2.12-$3.70 last week, ATB said in a report on the auction held on Monday and Tuesday. Best Brighter Pekoe Fanning Ones (PF1s) sold at $2.46-$3.24 per kg from $2.38-$3.19 last week. Most of the tea offered at the weekly Mombasa auction is from Kenya, but tea from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and other regional producers is also sold.