SL August tea production at 16-year low

Sri Lanka tea production in August dropped to a 16-year low, down by 14 per cent at 21.3 million kg compared to 24 million kg during the same month in 2017.
The low crop was blamed by tea brokers on the absence of rain, dry weather patterns and strong winds. In addition the absence of glyphosate that resulted in a possible overgrowth of weeds and the inability to fertilize the estates could have contributed to the low crop as well.
Brokers said low grown production in August was at its lowest in 11 years since 2007; the high grown figure of 3.6 million kg is the lowest since 1992 that is 26 years; medium production lowest since 2009 and low grown at 14.6 million kg the lowest since 2007.
The cumulative production for the year (upto August) is down by 2 per cent on last year and is the lowest since the El Nino year of 2016, it was reported.(SD)