May tea crop down

As per latest production data released by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, crop in May has declined by 2.8 million kilos to 30.8 million kilos over a year earlier.

“During May, 2012, all three elevation categories have recorded lower crops than the corresponding month last year, with the harvests from the High Grown elevation in particular showing a fairly large negative variance,” Lanka Commodity Brokers said.

“During the month under review, the weather conditions were once again not conducive for growth, and the worst affected were the plantations in the High Grown area, and Low Growns to a lesser extent, it added.

The steepest decline of 1.6 million kilos has been reported from the High Grown sector, which is followed by Low Growns with a deficit of 751,253 kilos and 418,452 kilos by Medium Grown teas.

During the period Jan/May 2012, the national Tea Crop is recorded as 135.6 million kilos which shows a drop of 6.3 million kilos (4.5%) year-on-year. Here again the sharpest drop of 5.4 million kilos (14.5%) is from the High Grown plantations following drought conditions that prevailed during the major period of the current year’s first five months.  

“The overall crop for Jan / May, 2012, has now widened to a negative variance of 6.3 million kilos when compared to the corresponding period last year, out of which the High Grown deficit accounts for 5.4 million kilos,” Lanka Commodity Brokers added.