John Keels weekly Tea Market report said Westerns, Nuwara Eliya Teas, Uva, and Cut Twist and Curl (CTC) tea sold well.
Western Hills include tea growing districts of Hatton, Talawakelle, Bogawantalawa, Maskeliya, Lindula and estates above Ramboda. The Nuwara Eliya District encompasses estates from Nanu Oya in to Nuwara Eliya and the Kandapola sub district.
The Eastern Hills usually referred to as Uva Tea growing district has estates from Welimada, Bandarawela stretching into the Uva Basin, Passara, Madulsima and the low lying areas of Lunugala.
Russia and CIS Countries supported small leaf producers. Small leaf grades were absorbed by CTCs giving rise to market stability and therefore the volatile situation in Libya and the Middle East have not take its toll on the Colombo auctions as such.
Could the Libyan crisis impact on future sales? Brokers were cautious and avoided giving a direct answer. They said the market was in a state of flux at this particular point of time and anything was possible. Conceding the Ceylon Tea was not immune to global conditions, they said the present strength of the Brand had continued to sustain prices at Colombo.
However, disasters in Japan could affect the pricier Ex-Estate Teas, they opined.
Last week however it was ‘business as usual’ at the Tea auctions at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) auditorium.
Low grown leafy grades did take downgrading and prices remained about Rs. 20 per kilo in the red particularly because Libya was not active.
Other grades did well. There were also small parcels of high end tippy teas that sold at about Rs.3, 980 per kilo. They included low country private tea factory marks such as Magedera and Ivy Tea.
Meanwhile, the collective agreement between the plantation companies and estate unions will lapse this month. We understand wage negotiations are currently underway and expectations are that confrontations could be avoided this time around.
This week 6.3 million kilos of tea will be on offer. Of this quantity, 3.3 million will be from low grown origins and the rest form high and mid grown elevations.
source - www.island.lk
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