Negative start for tea production in 2024

Tea industry has begun 2024 with a dip in crop in January. 

Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said tea production in January was 18.73 million kilos, down by 2% or 0.4 million kilos from a year earlier. 

All elevations except for the medium grown elevation have shown a decrease in comparison with the corresponding period of 2023. 

Compared to 22.87 million kilos of crop in January 2022, the production in January 2024 is down by 4.14 million kilos or 18%.

Tea crop in 2023 improved marginally reflecting the struggle for recovery after detrimental policy decisions and climate change. 

The production in 2023 was 256.04 million kilos, registering an increase of 4.20 million kilos compared with 251.84 million kilos in 2022. December crop was up 0.51% YoY to 19.81 million kilos.