12/10/2026
Tea Across Mountains and Seas: China’s Zero-Tariff Measures Support Kenya’s Tea Industry
In the early morning on the East African plateau, a soft golden light falls over the lush hills of Murang’a County, Kenya. In the Mathioya area, the scent of fresh grass mingles with the aroma of tea. At Kiriti Tea Factory, batches of tea are processed, sorted and prepared for shipment to markets including China.
Since 1 May this year, China has fully implemented zero-tariff measures for 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, including Kenya, creating new market opportunities for Kenyan tea. Enock Mathe, Deputy Director of Corporate Communications at the Tea Board of Kenya, said the measures have reduced the cost of bringing Kenyan tea into China and strengthened local producers’ confidence in developing the Chinese market.
Tea is a major cash crop and source of export earnings for Kenya, with many growers and processing businesses involved across the industry’s supply chain.
“We produce high-quality tea, but we need more high-value markets and better prices,” Mathe said, adding that China’s large consumer market offers new scope for growth for Kenyan tea.
For Kiriti Tea Factory, these market opportunities have quickly translated into new demands on production. The relatively young factory, which began commercial production in 2021, works with around 3,450 local smallholder farming households. With new opportunities emerging in China, maintaining tea quality and improving sorting capacity have become important priorities.
“Good tea is not only grown; it is also produced through standardised processing,” said the factory’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Maina.
In August this year, a tea colour sorter supplied by a Chinese company was installed, commissioned and put into operation at the factory. The machine identifies and sorts tea according to its different characteristics, helping improve product quality and sorting efficiency.
For the factory, the equipment represents an upgrade to its processing operations and provides a more consistent approach to quality control for tea grown by smallholders.
“Chinese equipment and technology enable us to better control the quality of our tea,” Maina said.
A new connection is taking shape between market access and production. The opportunities created by zero tariffs are giving the factory a stronger incentive to upgrade its operations. In turn, greater production capacity is giving more local tea growers the opportunity to benefit from expanding markets.
A local tea farmer, Joseph, told reporters that he expected the zero-tariff measures to increase his earnings and improve his financial circumstances.
Another tea farmer, Lucy Wanjiku, said: “We are very happy that the Chinese market has opened its doors to us. We hope to sell more tea to China in the future.”
At the other end of the supply chain, Chinese buyers are looking for distinctive Kenyan teas.
Li Yaling, a Chinese importer sourcing tea in Kenya, said she had found black tea that suited Chinese consumers’ tastes. Her next step is to hold further discussions with local factories to understand their tea quality, production volumes and supply availability, and to work towards long-term purchasing partnerships that will bring more distinctive Kenyan teas to the Chinese market.
The market opportunities created by China’s zero-tariff measures for Africa are being felt throughout the supply chain, connecting tea growers, factories and consumers.
From trade in goods to shared industrial development, the story of China–Africa cooperation is travelling across mountains and seas with the aroma of tea, becoming part of more people’s everyday lives.
Reporting by Xinhua journalists Xu Jiatong and Yang Guang.
