Kericho, Kenya, Feb. 5 - Violence in Kenya has not hit Unilever Tea Kenya's tea output although some staff have been targeted in ethnic clashes, the company said on Tuesday.
The grower, partly owned by London-based Unilever , added that rain was still a major factor for production.
"We are producing over 500,000 kg of green leaf a day so we have not been affected production-wise," said Kip-Utich Kaptich Unilever Kenya's corporate, technical and development director.
"The production level is more due to weather than other issues," he told Reuters in an interview.
Ethnic clashes in Kenya, a top exporter of black tea, have killed more than 1,000 people and shaken a country previously seen as politically stable and economically successful in the region.
The violence erupted in many parts of western Kenya after President Mwai Kibaki's re-election on Dec. 27, which was questioned by observers and has been rejected by opponent Raila Odinga.
Kaptich said some of his staff had been threatened and those targeted had taken their leave early in the year.
Raiders damaged workers' housing, storage facilities and equipment in the sprawling tea estates in the Rift Valley but left tea leaf processing plants largely untouched.
Political violence soon gave way to ethnic attacks and members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and, near Kericho, ethnic Kisii, were targeted. As a result, Unilever has had to beef up protection on their estates after some staff were attacked.
"When we had people being targeted we agreed that they could go on leave. We expect ... they will come back," he added.
Unilever's operations this year started just a few days late, on Jan 7, and have continued unhindered since, Kaptich said.
Thousands of Kikuyu and Kisii near Kericho have decided that they have no future in the region, dominated by Kalenjin, and are packing their belongings onto trucks and moving back to their ancestral homelands, elsewhere in Kenya.
Kaptich said that between 15 and 20 percent of the pluckers were away, which was "just slightly over normal" for monthly leave at this time of year.
"We have had no clashes in the workplace. They are there and they don't attack each other," he said when asked if the ethnic tensions had been seen within the farm gates.
Kaptich said production from 8,000 hectare operation should rise to about 600,000 kg of green leaf a day when the long rains start in April.