Kenyan tea farmers are staring at huge losses after Sudan banned export tea into the country over a diplomatic spat between the two country.
The sector that has been the key foreign exchange earner has become the latest victim of Kenyan bungled foreign relations policy.
The Sovereign Council of Sudan, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, issued an immediate and indefinite ban on all Kenyan imports, including tea, through Ministerial Resolution No. (6) of 2025, citing national sovereignty and alleged interference in Sudanese internal affairs.
The move comes in response to Kenya’s reported support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in their bid to establish a parallel government in Sudan, a move that Khartoum views as a direct threat to its authority.
The military regime, which has been locked in a protracted conflict with the RSF, has increasingly employed economic retaliation as a geopolitical tool, with Kenya now following DRC among key regional trade partners severing ties over foreign policy disputes.
With tea exports to Sudan valued at billions of shillings annually, this prohibition threatens to disrupt a critical segment of Kenya’s tea sector, which generated Ksh 250 billion (US$1.93 billion) in total revenue in 2024, including Ksh 215 billion (US$1.66 billion) from exports, according to the Tea Board of Kenya.
