Instead of a long and thorough article - as one usually can expect from me, when it comes to tea -, just two juxtaposed snippets:

"Furthermore, deliberations at the two meetings revealed that there is a large overproduction of tea as supply surpasses consumption by 100 million kilogrammes in the globe. This oversupply of tea in the global market implies that if nothing is done now about supply and demand issues, the situation could get alarming.

Other challenges identified during the two meetings included; declining producer prices, low value addition, high cost of production and compliance to ISO standards."

HON KIPRUTO ARAP KIRWA, MP, MINISTER for agriculture on 27th MARCH, 2007, in this link here , and:

"Tea production for the first six months of the year rose by 48 per cent to 198 million kilos from 134 million kilos last year.

Tea Board of Kenya termed the first half production the highest in past years. "Although the 2006 production was affected by severe drought, this year's production is the highest that the tea industry has ever registered for the January - June period," said the board's managing director Sicily Kariuki. Mrs Kariuki said the "phenomenal performance" was due to unprecedented rainfall experienced during the first quarter of the year.

Production was higher in the tea growing areas West of the Rift than areas East of the Rift. West of the Rift, output rose by 63 per cent from 69 million kilos to 113 million kilos. Production within the East of Rift also increased significantly by 32 per cent from 64 million kilos to 85 million kilos.

Consequently, the estate sub sector, which is predominant in the West of Rift, recorded a production increase of 65 per cent from 44 million kilos to 72 million kilos.

The smallholder sub-sector registered an increased output of 39 per cent from 90 million kilos to 125 million kilos and accounted for 63 per cent of the total production."

Kaburu Mugambi, 2oth July 2007, in this link.  

My comment: GO, LEMMINGS,GO !