Representatives of the newly conceived Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC) have been causing some anxiety amongst officials and traders using Kenya's leading tea trading centre, the Mombasa Tea Auction.

The DTTC representatives have been in Mombasa, wooing key industry players with a number of incentives, including letters of credit (L/Cs) from Dubai.

Incentives

The representatives have held a one-day closed door meeting with tea merchants in Mombasa with the aim of convincing them to trade on the DTTC.

As well as L/Cs, the DTTC has indicated it will give Kenyan players free warehousing facilities with 60 days storage if they decide to do business in Dubai.

Global ambitions

Industry sources in Mombasa say the DTTC's courtship of East African tea merchants is part of a wider move to establish Dubai as the global centre for the tea trade.

Mombasa Tea Auction is currently the second largest tea exchange after Colombo in Sri Lanka.

DTTC facilities

The DTTC meanwhile will be a dedicated facility at which international tea producers, and merchants can hold stocks of tea that will be readily available to meet the immediate requirements of importers in the Middle East and adjacent regions.

Potential DTTC members will include tea producers, exporters, regional importers and international merchants. The centre will operate out of Dubai's vibrant Jebel Ali Free Zone.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.