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Tea production in Malawi, Africa\u2019s largest producer of the leaf after Kenya, declined 3.2 percent during the first quarter, the Reserve Bank said.<\/p>\n Tea production in Malawi, Africa\u2019s largest producer of the leaf after Kenya, declined 3.2 percent during the first quarter, the Reserve Bank said.<\/p>\n
Output between January and the end of March fell to 20.9 million kilograms from 21.6 million kilograms a year earlier, the Lilongwe-based central bank said in a report published on its website today. It didn\u2019t give a reason for the decline.<\/p>\n
Earnings from sales of the leaf dropped to $2.6 million from $2.9 million during the period because of increased supplies of the leaf in Kenya, the bank said.<\/p>\n
Tea is Malawi\u2019s second-largest foreign exchange earner, after tobacco, generating 8 percent of total export earnings. The U.K. is typically the largest buyer of tea from Malawi.<\/p>\n
To contact the reporter on this story: Frank Jomo in Blantyre at fjomo@bloomberg.net<\/a><\/p>\n