Africa Tea Brokers Ltd was the pioneer broker of the Kenya Tea Export Auction system initiated in November 1956 in Nairobi. It started on a very small scale and only limited quantities of secondary grades were auctioned every two weeks.
The bulk of Kenya’s tea production at the time was consigned to the London Auction with the United Kingdom being the most important importer of tea in the world.
Producers subsequently offered additional quantities at the auctions. Initially, only a few international buying concerns opened offices in Kenya, but as quantities increased, more international buyers joined.
It was then decided by producers and active members of the East African Trade Association that as was tea warehoused and shipped from Mombasa, it will be easier to control if export auctions were moved to the port town. This happened in 1969 and auctions were held weekly.
Mombasa is now the largest CTC auction centre in the world, offering up to 9.5 million kilograms a week and sometimes more during peak period.