Pakistan bought a record 56.47 million kilograms of Kenyan tea in the first quarter of 2026, about 39% of the country's exports, even as sales to China halved and a Sudanese import ban held, according to industry figures reported this month.

Kenya's total tea exports rose 6% year on year to 144.46 million kilograms over January to March, the figures show. The growth rested on a single buyer. Pakistan's intake was up 7.22 million kilograms on the same quarter of 2025, so close to two of every five kilos Kenya sold went to one market.

The rest of the map moved both ways. Yemen's purchases rose 140% to 2.64 million kilograms and Egypt's were up by 5.91 million kilograms, while the United Kingdom took 1.34 million kilograms more. Against that, China cut its buying by 51% to 1.22 million kilograms and Jordan by 71% to 860,000 kilograms. Sudan's imports fell 69% to 1.79 million kilograms, still shaped by the ban Khartoum imposed in March 2025.

Read the concentration, then ask what it costs. A crop that leans on one buyer for 39% of its sales is a crop exposed to that buyer's purse and politics. Kenya remains the world's largest exporter of black tea, but the quarter shows its top line riding on Pakistan's appetite while the smaller markets behind it swing by halves and doublings from one year to the next.

Sources: Food Business Middle East and Africa, Kenya tea exports rise 6% in Q1 2026 as Pakistan strengthens lead (June 6, 2026).