April tea crop falls to 4 year low; drags down cumulative performance

Tea production in April has dropped to a four year low of 21.46 million kilos, which is also the lowest since the COVID-19 lockdown year of 2020.

Industry said this year’s dry weather and low fertiliser application by smallholders in Q1 caused production to drop 15% to 21.46 million kilos compared with 25.24 million kilos in the same period the year before. 

The lowest crop in April during the past decade was 20.82 million kilos recorded in COVID-hit 2020, whilst the highest 32.94 million kilos in 2017. 

Forbes & Walker Research said all elevations have shown a decrease in comparison with the corresponding month of 2023. 

“Compared to 23.24 million kilos of April 2022, the corresponding month shows a decrease of 1.78 million kilos or 7.66%. During this period only green tea production registered an uptick of 56.55% as crop increased from 96,548 kilos in April 2022 to 151,145 kilos in April 2024.

Industry sources said the high and mid grown dominated by Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) maintained production in March despite very dry conditions. 

Forbes & Walker Research also said that January-April 2024 cumulative production totalled 79.73 million kilos registering a decrease of 5.02 million kilos vis-à-vis 84.75 million kilos compared to same period a year earlier.

“Compared to the corresponding period in 2023, high and low elevations have shown negative variances, whilst mid grown elevation recorded a marginal growth in the year 2024,” it added.

Forbes & Walker Research noted that compared to 86.58 million kilos of January-April 2022, cumulative production in 2024 shows a decrease of 8% or 6.85 million kilos. 

During the first four months only medium elevation production is ahead of last year despite the adverse weather, thanks to investment in fertiliser and reasons explained before. However, on a cumulative basis, all other elevations have shown a decrease over the corresponding period of 2022.