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| Sunday, 25 January 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Colombo Tea Auction handles largest volume Sri Lanka's tea industry rewrote the record books last Wednesday with the Colombo Auctions successfully handling its largest ever volume of tea offered for sale at a single auction. Tea to the volume of 8.81 million kg from the different gardens went under the hammer in units of 12645 lots. Both the kilogramme weight and the number of lots offered were above the previous best, which comprised 8.78 million kg and 12051 lots at the auction of May 30, 2002. Excellent buyer participation resulting in a strong market and better prices for most teas was the main feature of this auction, a John Keells Ltd. news release said. Sri Lanka's tea production figures for 2003 have also been released, and here too, the local trade can be happy with their performance with production reaching 303.2 million kg for the year. This volume was bettered only in 2002 when Sri Lanka posted 310 million kg for a calendar year. In spite of the adverse weather conditions in May and June, resulting in unprecedented flooding in many of the tea growing regions, all three elevations have bounced back quite satisfactorily with improved production in the latter months of the year. High Grown teas totalled 81.5 million kg. six per cent behind 2002 while Mid Grown did well to maintain volumes at 54 million kg. Low Grown teas fell marginally by 1.5 million kg just under one per cent compared to the previous year to post a total of 167.6 million kg. However, comparative production figures for December reflect a 16 per cent drop in volume for 2003 where, the trend is likely to continue in to the first quarter of the current year with dry weather settling in and volumes depleting. Brighter weather upcountry however is the prescription for our planters to make better quality teas, and we are likely to see a good western quality season this year, the release said. |
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