The Tea Association of Malawi (Taml) says negotiations to review the $0.17 (about K300) per kilogramme (kg) green leaf tea price will start amid growing calls for higher prices to match rising production costs.
Taml says it has already asked tea producers to put forward their proposed price, which will be negotiated through the Green Leaf Pricing Committee comprising growers, tea processors and representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.
smallholder tea producers. | Grace Phiri
In an interview in Blantyre on Wednesday, Taml chief executive officer Tonda Chinangwa said that the association acknowledges that production costs have increased as most inputs are imported and bought in foreign currency.
He said: “We have reached out to smallholder tea producers for them to come up with a proposal on what they would want the prices to be.
“That proposal will be negotiated through the Green Leaf Pricing Committee and discussions will determine an agreeable price for both parties.”
But Chinangwa said any price review must also take into account prevailing market conditions, with Malawi tea averaging $1.17 (about K2 050) per kg on the international market over the past three years.
He said Malawi’s landlocked status continues to undermine competitiveness as buyers factor inland transport costs into the prices they offer, unlike producers in Kenya whose tea reaches the export port much faster.
Naming’omba Tea Estates Limited managing director Amos Suluma said global tea prices have remained largely unchanged over the past four years, limiting the industry’s capacity to pay more for green leaf.
“The prices have not improved for the past two, three, four years. We rely on buyers because they name the price and we negotiate, so the situation has not been quite good,” he said.
Suluma said improving tea quality remains one of the industry’s key strategies for attracting better prices on the international market.
The impending negotiations follow concerns raised by smallholder tea growers that the current $0.17 per kg green leaf price no longer reflects rising production costs.
Sukambizi Tea Association Trust chairperson Edison Maotchedwe said increasing input costs are squeezing farmers’ margins and reducing profitability.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s tea production fell by 6.5 percent to 29.44 million kg in the first half of 2026 from 31.48 million kg during the corresponding period last year due to adverse weather and production challenges.
Tea, which is one of the country’s key crops, contributes about seven percent to Malawi’s gross domestic product, 11 percent to the country’s employment, supports about 27 000 smallholder farmers with the sector employing more than 60 000 people.
