Tea crop plummets in March due to drought

Reuters:  Sri Lanka’s tea output in March fell 27.5% from a year earlier due to the prevailing drought, leaving first-quarter production down 11.46%, the state-run Tea Board said on Wednesday.

“It was due to the prevailing drought situation in the first three months,” S. A. Siriwardena, director general at the Sri Lanka Tea Board, told Reuters.

“We had some rains in some areas this month. But the impact of the drought will continue for this month as well.”

Sri Lanka’s 2015 tea output fell 2.7% from the previous year and missed forecasts for the second consecutive year due to heavy rains.

Tea, Sri Lanka’s top agricultural export commodity is one of the main foreign currency earners for the $82.2 billion economy.