Thursday, 5 December 2013 00:00
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Reuters: Bangladesh postponed its weekly tea auction on Tuesday amid violent protests against upcoming elections, traders said.
The country has been rocked by a series of shutdowns and transport blockades over the past few weeks, crippling economic activity.
Tea is sold every Tuesday at the country’s sole auction centre in Chittagong.
“We have to cancel the tea auction this week as a continuous blockade limited movements of traders and disrupted supplies,” an official at the Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh said.
Tea sold in the last auction remained at warehouses in Chittagong, he added.
In the previous auction, tea prices slipped for a second straight week as local buyers showed poor demand amid political violence.
Bangladesh’s main opposition party on Monday extended a 72-hour nationwide road, water and railway blockade to demand the prime minister quit and elections be held under a non-party administration.
