Tea production up in 2010

Sri Lanka’s 2010 full-year tea production rose 13.1 percent to a record 329.4 million kg, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said on Friday. The record crop grew from 291.1 million in 2009, and surpassed the previous top mark of 318.7 million kg set in 2008. December dipped to 25.7 million kg from 26.3 million kg in the same month last year.

It was due to good weather and favourable agricultural practices, Sri Lanka Tea Board Director General H.D. Hemarathna told Reuters. Output fell 9 percent to 289.8 million kg last year from an all-time output peak of 318.7 million kg in 2008 due to adverse weather and a lack of fertiliser, along with a labour strike. Sri Lanka’s annual earnings from tea exports fell 6.8 percent to $1.2 billion last year after hitting a record peak of $1.28 billion in 2008.

Export revenue from January to November rose 16.7 percent to $1.2 billion compared with a year ago, Central Bank data showed. Tea is one of the main foreign exchange earners for Sri Lanka’s $42 billion economy, along with remittances, garments and tourism. The island is one of the biggest black tea producers in the world, along with India and Kenya.