Mixed demand at tea auctions

Thursday, 12 November 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

There was mixed demand at this week’s tea auctions, broker John Keells Plc said.

It said the 1.18 Mkgs of Ex Estate teas on offer met with lower demand at yesterday’s sale. Prices for most grades declined as the sale progressed.

The better made Western High Grown BOPs attracted some useful bids whilst the BOPFs declined. The below best and plainer sorts were irregular. Nuwara Eliya BOP/BOPFs too met with a weaker market with a number of invoices remaining unsold. Prices for the Uva BOP/BOPFs followed a similar downward trend. The High and Medium CTC PF1s declined whilst the BP1s were firm.

The tea bag sector was selective, whilst UK, Japan and continental buyers were active at lower levels. There was good demand for the 3.0 Mkgs of Low Growns that were on offer at the week’s auction. Leafy grades were slightly lower to last. OP1s declined Rs.10 to Rs.20. Best BOP1s advanced Rs.10 to Rs.20. OP/OPAs and Pekoe/Pekoe1s declined Rs. 20 on previous levels. In the Small leaf category, BOP/BOP.SPs sold well. Better FBOPs too met with good demand but were slightly lower to last. Better FBOPF1s met with strong demand and gained Rs.10 per kg. Better Tippy varieties were well sought after, however tended a little lower to last. There was good demand from Russian, Iranian and other Middle Eastern buyers.

Weather impacts crop intake

John Keells Plc said crop intakes continue to be disappointing from all elevations.

It said the heavy showers and overcast conditions during the preceding weeks have largely contributed to the low intakes. The worker outturn is reported to be low due to the Hindu Deepavali festival that was celebrated early this week.

“Despite the poor run in production of late, Sri Lanka’s tea crop is set to improve within the next weeks as most plantation districts are experiencing warmer weather conditions and the resumption of crop harvests following the long holidays, which in turn is set to raise the waning revenues from Sri Lanka’s No. 1 agricultural export crop,” John Keells said. It also said Kenya tea production has dropped by 50 Mkgs and Indian tea production by 10 Mkgs compared to last year.