KTDA’s Chai Trading bets on Miritini warehouse to cut farmers’ storage costs

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Chai Trading Company Ltd (CTCL), the warehousing and trading subsidiary of KTDA Holdings, has launched a five-year strategic plan that hinges on completing a mega warehouse complex at Miritini in Mombasa in 2027 and on expanding its tea trading business into new markets.

KTDA announced the 2026-2030 plan on Sunday, saying it is meant to deliver “greater value to tea farmers through more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable warehousing and trading operations”.

Warehouse at the centre

The plan “prioritises investment in technology and infrastructure to enhance business growth and maximise returns to farmers through dividends and lower tea warehousing costs,” the agency said.

Its first milestone is the Miritini Mega Warehouse Complex, scheduled for completion in 2027, the opening year of the strategy. According to KTDA, the facility is expected to “significantly reduce warehousing costs for KTDA factories and farmers” while allowing the centralised storage of nearly all KTDA teas.

CTCL currently runs four warehouse sites listed on its website: the CTCL-KTDA warehouse, Farmers Complex, Mengo Complex and Miritini Complex. The Miritini site, on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway, has 130,000 square feet of warehouse space and a blending machine for shipment teas, and handles blending, packing, shipments and storage. The company says the site is being expanded by a further 60,000 square feet.

KTDA did not give a cost for the complex in its announcement. Nairobi contractor Interways Works lists a CTCL Complex Phase II at Miritini among its projects, with a contract value of KSh1,629,455,728.24 and a 2024 to 2026 timeline.

Why storage costs matter to growers

KTDA’s statement ties the warehouse directly to the costs carried by “KTDA factories and farmers”. That matters because each factory’s annual second payment, or bonus, is worked out from what is left of tea sales after the factory’s costs are paid, as we explained earlier this month. Lower charges for storing and handling tea would leave a bigger surplus to share.

That link has been a sore point this year. Second payments for the 2025/26 season ranged from KSh12.50 to KSh50 per kilo of green leaf across factories, prompting protests and a court challenge by growers in Kisii and Nyamira. The Agriculture Ministry has also put four western Kenya factories on performance targets to cut costs and improve farmer returns.

KTDA said returns to farmers would come through two routes: dividends from CTCL and lower warehousing costs. It did not say by how much it expects charges to fall once the Miritini complex is running.

Trading arm to look for new buyers

The plan also aims to grow CTCL’s trading arm “to diversify to new markets as part of the Group’s wider plan to broaden the customer and product reach for better value for the farmer,” KTDA said. The statement did not name target markets or volumes.

The launch was led by CTCL board chairman David Ndung’u and managing director Dorcas Mohammed, with KTDA national chairman Enos Njeru and group chief executive Francis Miano in attendance.

KTDA said the plan underscores CTCL’s aim of strengthening its position “to be Kenya’s leading tea trading and warehousing company while delivering greater value to the farmers it serves.”

For growers, the measure of success will be visible in factory accounts. Lower warehousing and handling charges after the Miritini complex opens would leave more money in the pool from which monthly rates and bonuses are paid.