Kenyan tea farmers face a challenging year due to the conflict in the Middle East disrupting trade routes, leading to significant shipping delays and threatening export earnings.

• Tea worth over 3 billion shillings (about 23.3 million U.S. dollars) is currently held in warehouses due to a lack of shipping capacity.
• Enos Njeru, chairman of the Kenya Tea Development Agency Holdings, representing over 600,000 smallholder tea farmers, highlighted the crisis.
• Rising fuel prices in Kenya are expected to increase fertilizer costs, compounding the difficulties caused by elevated global shipping rates.

The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) is warning of significant economic strain, particularly within the transport sector, due to persistently high fuel costs.

• Operating costs for businesses have surged, threatening jobs and pushing up consumer prices, with transport fares rising by up to 25 percent.
• Key organization involved: KNCCI, represented by its CEO KK Mutai.
• Fuel prices remain elevated despite a recent VAT cut, reflecting global oil market pressures and geopolitical tensions impacting shipping routes.

Kenya is set to leverage geographic indications (GI) to enhance the global value of its key agricultural exports, including tea, coffee, and cut flowers, by introducing new legislation that empowers counties.

• The draft Geographical Indications (GI) Bill, 2026 aims to protect the origin-based branding of Kenyan products, potentially unlocking billions of shillings lost in global trade.
• Counties will play a pivotal role in mobilizing producers, verifying geographic boundaries, and supporting GI applications, effectively becoming custodians of local brands.
• The proposed law extends protection to unregistered names and seeks to prevent the misuse and misappropriation of Kenyan product names, with penalties including fines of up to Sh5 million or jail terms of at least two years for offenders.