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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Tea industry stays full-blown by Gamini Warushamana Despite several obstacles the Sri Lankan tea industry is in a healthy state and production-exports as well as prices have shown a stable position in the year 2003, the Sri Lanka Tea Review (SLTR) released by the Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers (Pvt) Ltd states. In 2003 Sri Lanka exported 291,891 MTs and produced 303,254 MTs and is maintaining its position as the largest tea exporter and third largest producer in the world. Sri Lankan tea enjoyed a 21% market share in the world market last year. The largest tea producer in the world, India, produces 857,055 MTs while China, the second largest producer manufactures 770,000 MTs. The second largest tea exporter is Kenya and it has a 19.5% share of the world tea market. Lowgrown tea represents the largest share of the Sri Lankan production and 167,668 MTs has been produced during the year, while 81,598 MTs of high grown and 53,988MTs of medium grown have also been produced. However the total tea production has reduced slightly due to heavy rain and floods in the Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces, the report says. The average Colombo auction price of Rs.149.05/Kg has not changed significantly compared with the Rs.149.30/Kg in the year 2002. Lowgrown tea fetched the highest price and the average price of the year was Rs.160.86/Kg. The average auction price of high grown and medium grown are Rs.138.31/Kg and Rs.126.18/Kg respectively. CIS countries are the largest market for Sri Lankan Tea. Syria, U.A.E, Libya, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Japan are the other countries that import large volumes of our tea respectively. Volume of bulk tea exports has reduced by 5.6% in the year 2003. But tea packets, tea bags and green tea exports have increased and compared with the prices it have shown a positive indication of the tea export sector. According to SLTR the price difference between bulk tea and processed tea is very high. Average FOB value of bulk tea is 176.41/Kg. But the average FOB unit value of Instant Tea, Green Tea, Tea in Bags and Tea Packets is Rs.771.15, 580.30,502.32 and 212.39 respectively. |
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