January tea output up 7.8%

Reuters: Sri Lanka’s January tea output rose 7.8% from a year earlier, the first monthly gain in five, as favourable weather helped boost output, the State-run Tea Board said on Thursday.

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 and volatile global prices for the commodity.

“There was a shortfall last few months of the last year. But the weather was good in January and February,” S. A. Siriwardena, Director General of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, told Reuters.

Tea, Sri Lanka’s top agricultural export commodity, is one of the main foreign currency earners for the $78.6 billion economy.