PAKISTANI DECISION WILL HURT KENYAN TEA EXPORTS Pakistan's decision to suspend tea import licences will hurt Kenyan tea exports in the short term while exporters seek new markets, sources close to Nairobi broking houses and exporters said. Broking house officials in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo yesterday told Reuters Pakistan had suspended the licences in order to link tea imports to Pakistani exports. The latest available figures show that Kenyan exports to Pakistan, mainly tea, were worth 75 mln dlrs in 1985, while imports from Pakistan amounted to only 4.8 mln dlrs. Kenya provides over 50 pct of Pakistan's tea imports. The Nairobi sources said the Pakistani decision did not come as a surprise as Pakistan had been complaining of the trade imbalance for some time. "We are very disappointed that Pakistan took such action ... (it) will certainly hurt Kenya's tea industry in the short term as Pakistan is Kenya's second largest market," a source at one broking house told Reuters. One tea broker said Pakistan's move had already affected Kenya's tea trade and was largely responsible for an average fall of two shillings a kilo at the export auction in Mombasa last Monday. "The trend is likely to continue until other countries replace Pakistan, which usually buys all qualities of our tea," he added. Kenya has for a long time relied on Britain, Pakistan, Egypt and, to a lesser extent the United States, as major markets for its tea, the sources added. Small-scale exporters who export mainly to Pakistan would be worst hit by the Pakistani move as it would take them longer to find new outlets, they said.