Sri Lanka high grown teas up, low growns ease in April 29/30 auction

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s high grown Ceylon teas made gains at the last auction in April, while low growns eased after steep prices gains were seen earlier in April when auctions resumed in Colombo after a Coronavirus shutdown.

At the auction on April 29/30, 4.5 million kilograms of tea were sold with 0.6 million kilograms in Ex-estate tea for which demand was strong in particularly BOPF grades. About 1.7 million kilograms in low grown (Leafy/Tippy) tea for which demand was significantly lower.

Most active markets buying tea from Sri Lanka at the moment was Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Iraq, brokers said.

Ex-state teas met with strong demand with high grown BOPF grades in gaining 50 rupees a kilo while BOPs fell around 40, data from Ceylon Tea Brokers showed.

The National Average for April sales was 693.71 rupees/3.6 US dollars with the US dollar at 192.85 rupees.

The high grown average was 657.43/3.4 dollars, medium average was 616.65/3.2 dollars, low grown average was 737.97/38 dollars.

The tea auction is now conducted online.



In high grown teas, select Best Westerns fell 50 rupees, Below bests fell about 20-40 rupees. Pussellewa’s were 20-30 rupees lower.

In Best and Below Best categories, prices were firm and up 20/3 rupees on reasonable quality teas. Nuwara Eliya’s were about 50 rupees lower and, Uda Pussellawa’s were 20-30 rupees lower and Uva clean leaf sorts were up 20-30 rupees.

In medium grown teas BOP was firm, BOPF was about 10-30 rupees higher.

Low grown BOP1 Select Best and Below Best were firm, OP1, and OP were lower.

CTC

In CTC teas High grown BP1 and PF1 grades up 10-20 rupees. Mid-grown BP1s were also up 20-30 rupees with PF1 prices falling towards the end of the auction.

Low grown BP1s were around last week levels.

Production

Tea production for the month of March 2020 hit a 10-year low amounting to 13.28 million kilograms, reports show.

Sri Lanka produced 28.36 million kilograms a year earlier, showcasing a year-on-year drop of 15.08 million kilos in March 2020.

Elevation wise brokers reported a decrease of 2.35 million kilos in High, Medium and Low Growns.

All planting districts reported a moderate increase in the crop intake as clear and sunny weather prevailed throughout all planting regions.

In key global markets Mombasa Auction of the 27th/28th Apr, 2020 recorded good demand for the 12,284,115.50 kilos on offer at irregularly easier rates.

Jakarta Auction concluded with fair tending better demand at irregular levels for an offered total of 6,300 packages. (Colombo/Apr03/2020)