Monthly tea auction averages down Rs. 25 in March

Thursday, 5 April 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers

March Auction average totalled Rs. 613.75 vis-à-vis Rs. 638.76 of March 2017, showing a decrease of Rs. 25.01. When analysing the respective elevations, High Grown average for March 2018 of Rs. 602.27 too shows a decrease of Rs. 32.57 vis-à-vis Rs. 634.84 of March 2017, whilst Mediums averaging Rs. 566.91 show a decrease of Rs. 35.49 vis-à-vis Rs. 602.40 of March 2017. Low Growns too averaging Rs. 628.98 have shown a decrease of Rs. 19.52 vis-à-vis Rs. 648.50 of March 2017. These averages also show a decrease in USD terms compared to the corresponding month of 2017.

When analysing the cumulative Auction average for the period January-March 2018 of Rs. 629.77 shows a gain of Rs. 21.74 vis-à-vis Rs. 608.03 of January-March 2017. High Growns for the period of January-March 2018 of Rs. 628.04 show a gain of Rs. 8.42 vis-à-vis Rs. 619.62 of January-March 2017, whilst Mediums averaging Rs. 571.86 have shown a gain of Rs. 7.58 vis-à-vis Rs. 564.28 of January-March 2017. Meanwhile Low Growns averaging Rs. 643.90 for January-March 2018 too have shown a gain of Rs. 29.08 vis-à-vis Rs. 614.82 of January-March 2017.

It is relevant to note that January-March 2018 prices show a decrease in USD terms compared to the price levels of January-March 2017 with the exception of the Low Grown average where 2018 prices are higher than 2017. It is also noteworthy that these levels are significantly higher both in LKR/USD terms when compared to 2016 levels.