Sept. tea crop unchanged YOY; cumulative figure down sharply

• First 9 months production at 201 m kilos, lowest in over 20 years
• High-Growns figure of 45.6 m kilos lowest on record for more than 30 years
• Asia Siyaka opines full year 2020 crop would be around 275 m kilos as against 300 m kilos in 2019

Tea production in September remained unchanged from a year earlier, whilst cumulatively the first nine months crop was down sharply, according to broker Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC. 

Quoting Sri Lanka Tea Board data, the broker said production for September was 21.9 million kilos, the same as a year ago. 

“This was made possible by year-on-year (YOY) gain from the higher elevations which compensate for production loss from the low country,” Asia Siyaka said. High-Growns achieved 4.2 million kilos against 3.8 million kilos last year. Mediums improved to 3.4 million kilos from 3.2 million kilos in September 2019. Low-Growns however, slipped to 14.2 million kilos compared with 14.7 million kilos a year ago. “This is the lowest monthly production figure since April this year,” Asia Siyaka said. 

It said all three elevations were down YOY with more than 80% of the crop loss coming from the Low-Grown sector, which declined 17.7% to 121.4 million kilos from 147.4 million kilos last year. High-Grown January – September 2020 figure of 45.6 million kilos was down 6% on last year’s figure and was the lowest on record for more than thirty years. The Mid-Grown quantity, has declined from 36.8 million kilos last year to 34.1 million kilos. 

Asia Siyaka said tea production for the period January – September was at a very poor 201.1 million kilos, sharply lower by 13.7% from last year’s figure of 232.9 million kilos. 

“This year’s nine month quantity is the lowest in more than twenty years,” the broker said, adding a quantity closest to this figure was seen in the recent past when 218.9 million kilos was produced in 2016. In that year, extended dry spells significantly reduced the harvest and national production declined to 292 million kilos. 

“Extremes of weather and late arrival of fertilizer has limited production this year and even if we have a good Q4, the annual crop for 2020 would be around 275 million kilos,” Asia Siyaka Commodities opined. 

In comparison, the 2019 tea crop was 300.1 million kilos down from 304 million kilos in 2018.