NAIROBI, Kenya– Mt. Kenya Tea Factory has been officially placed under administration, effective September 3, 2025, following Insolvency Cause No. IP E049 of 2025 under the Insolvency Act No. 18 of 2015.
The High Court has appointed PVR Rao and Swaroop Rao Ponangipalli of Tact Consulting LLP as Joint Administrators, taking over full operational control from the company’s directors.
“All the affairs and business of the Company are being conducted by the Joint Administrators whose powers extend to all assets and undertakings of the Company,” the official notice stated.
“The powers of the Directors in terms of dealing with the Company’s assets ceased.”
The administrators clarified that they act solely on behalf of the company and carry no personal liability.
Stakeholders or creditors with outstanding claims are required to submit full documentation by September 30, 2025, addressed to Swaroop Rao Ponangipalli at Tact Consulting LLP in Nairobi.
The move comes amid a challenging period for Kenya’s tea sector, which has been hit by a combination of poor weather, declining global prices, and structural inefficiencies.
Tea production has been particularly affected this year.
In April 2025, national output fell 3.85% compared to the same month in 2024, largely due to below-average rainfall in major growing regions.
Auction sales that month dropped to 33.91 million kilograms, with the average price sliding to $2.09 per kilogram from $2.29 per kilogram in the previous year.
The slump in production started early in the year, with volumes in the January–March 2025 period already down sharply, and April recorded further contraction.
By June, total output had fallen by more than 8% to 42.4 million kilograms, with smallholder farmers disproportionately affected by prolonged dry spells.
The decline in production has weighed heavily on the industry’s earnings.
In the first half of 2025, tea export revenues fell 12.1%, dropping from Sh102.47 billion to Sh90.12 billion, while export volumes slipped to 315,036 tonnes from 320,564 tonnes in 2024, underscoring mounting pressures on one of Kenya’s key foreign exchange earners.
