Ceylon tea offerings drop at auction

High volumes and quality have contributed to a drop in offerings at the Colombo tea auction which totalled 5.9 million kg compared to about 2-3 weeks back of 6.4 million kg.

This was due to less buying intensity and perhaps a combination of relatively higher volumes for the time of year and qualitative factors, Forbes and Walkers tea brokers stated in their market report this week.

Ex-Estate offerings continued to total around 0.9 million kg. Overall quality of teas showed no significant change with hardly any seasonal invoices on offer.

In the Best Western category a few select BOP invoices appreciated substantially following quality/special inquiry, whilst the others were irregular following quality. Corresponding BOPF’s had a slightly wider selection of teas appreciating by Rs.100 per kg and more following quality, whilst the others continued to be irregular.

There was less activity from shippers to the UK, South Africa and the continent. There was fair activity from shippers to Japan and also from the CIS at mostly lower levels.

Low Growns comprised 2.6 million kg. All categories met with fair demand. (SD)