Tea marketing in Tanzania and the Dar es Salaam online tea auction

Law and the Tea Board

The Tea Act, Cap. 275 came into force on 1 October 1997, according to TanzLII. It sets up the Tea Board of Tanzania (sections 3 and 5). Tea may not be manufactured for sale without a licence (section 16). Sections 22 and 23 cover export and import permits ¹.

Section 25 provides for a cess on tea manufactured in Tanzania at a rate set by the Minister on the Board's advice. Section 27 sets up the Tea Development Trust Fund, which can pay for sales promotion and marketing ¹. The TanzLII text, as at 31 July 2002, does not mention auctions ¹.

The Board says its tasks include protecting farmers against buyer syndicates and regulating tea imports and exports. It registers tea buyers, dealers and brokers ².

The Dar es Salaam auction

The Tea Board announced on 8 November 2023 that the first tea auction in Tanzania would take place on 13 November 2023. The listed venue was the Bravo warehouse at Mivinjeni on Kilwa Road, near the port in Temeke, Dar es Salaam ³. The Board's event page called it the first Dar es Salaam online auction ².

The Citizen placed the event at Millennium Towers in Dar es Salaam, as reported by Louis Kolumbia on 13 November 2023 ⁸. An earlier Citizen preview by Josephine Christopher, dated 26 June 2023, said Tanzania would hold its first tea auction that day ⁹. The Board's own notices give 13 November 2023 ³.

On 9 December 2023 the Board's director general said 46.5 percent of the tea offered had been sold. The director general said farmers had saved 50 percent of the transport costs of sending tea to Kenya, as reported by Louis Kolumbia of The Citizen ⁵.

Online auction and direct sales

Daily News reported that DOTA began in 2023 and replaced physical auctions held in regional centres, which had long settlement cycles and high costs, as reported by Dativa Minja on 5 November 2025. The article gives auction prices from Tea Board data presented by acting director of regulatory services Mbushunoti Miindoi ⁶. The Board's strategy for 2025 to 2035 says processors sell made tea directly or through the online auction. Local buyers blend and pack it for export or the home market ⁷.

Prices, factories and farmers

• In 2025 direct-sale prices rose from under one dollar to US$2.5 per kg, and auction prices rose to US$1.55 per kg, according to the strategy ⁷.
• Farmers receive about 37 percent of the made-tea price in Tanzania, against over 70 percent for Kenyan smallholders who own factories ⁷.
• The strategy counts 24 processing factories and 15 blending facilities, with a target of 35 of each by 2035 ⁷.
• It gives annual production of 22,772 tonnes of made tea and a target of about 70,000 tonnes by 2035 ⁷.

Grower payment rules

The Tea Rules, 1999 (GN 92 of 1999) required green leaf buyers to pay at or above a price announced by the Board, to issue a receipt at the sale and to pay within one month (rule 7). Domestic sales of made tea were by private treaty to licensed blenders and packers (rule 28) ⁴.

TanzLII records that the 1999 Rules were revoked on 12 November 2010 by the Tea Regulations, 2010 (GN 421 of 2010). The 2010 text could not be opened for this guide, so the 1999 rules above are historical ⁴.