By: Staff Writer
March 23, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s tea crop improved during the past two months and its sales increased, tea broker firms highlighted.
The National Tea Sales average in February increased to Rs. 1,320.71 ($ 4.25) from Rs. 1,275.31 ($ 3.99) in the previous month.
In comparison to the February 2023 average of Rs. 1,438.20 ($ 3.96), the total average shows a drop of Rs. 117.49 YoY, while gaining $ 0.29 in dollar terms.
Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said in terms of elevation-wise averages for February 2024; High Grown average for the month recorded an increase of Rs. 78.73 and a gain of $ 0.35 month-on-month (MoM), whilst a decrease of Rs. 233.59 YoY and a decrease of $ 0.10.
Medium Grown average for the month increased Rs. 70.45 and $ 0.32 MoM, whilst in comparison to the corresponding month last year shows a decrease of Rs. 100.53 and while gaining $ 0.26 YoY.
Low Grown average for the month recorded a gain of Rs. 17.79 and $ 0.18 MoM, whilst a decrease of Rs. 80.21 and gaining $ 0.44 YoY.
Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said all elevations witnessed a decline during the first two months compared to the corresponding period of 2023 in rupee terms.
However, when compared to the same period, in dollar terms, High Growns recorded a decline, whilst the Medium and Low Grown elevations registered a positive variance.
Sri Lanka’s tea crop in the first two months of this year has increased by 3.50%, showcasing a promising growth compared to the same period in previous years.
January-February 2023 cumulative production totalled 84.09 million kilos, registering a drop of 2.14 million kilos or vis-à-vis 86.23 million kilos YoY.
Cumulative production for January-February 2024 totalled 38.53 million kilos, registering an increase of 1.30 million kilos vis-à-vis 37.23 million kilos year-on-Year (YoY), reflecting the resilience and strength of the industry, despite challenges posed by various factors.
Data analysed by Forbes and Walkers Research said the growth trend was evident across all elevations, except for Green Tea, which experienced a marginal negative variance.
High-grown elevation produced 7.89 million kilos up by 2.01% YoY whilst, medium elevation production was 6.1 million kilos up by 12.32% YoY and, the low-grown elevation crop was up by 2.10% to 24.19 million kilos. However, the green tea crop was at 333,271 kilos, down by 5.34% YoY.
When compared to 41.09 million kilos of January-February 2022, cumulative production of 2024 shows a decrease of 6.23% or 2.56 million kilos.
Sri Lanka’s tea production increased by 6.61% YoY to 19.99 million kilos, but the 2023 first two months crop dipped which registered 18.75 million kilos.
Once again, all elevations reported an increase in production, except for Green Tea, which saw a marginal decrease compared to February 2023.
When compared to the tea production figures from February 2022, which amounted to 18.22 million, February 2024 showed a notable increase of 1.77 million.
