Bangladesh tea prices drop for second week

Thursday, 27 July 2017 01:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dhaka (Reuters): Tea prices in Bangladesh fell for a second straight week amid ample supplies but strong demand for quality leaf prevented a steeper decline.

Bangladeshi tea fetched an average of 215.35 taka ($ 2.65) per kg at the weekly auction on Tuesday, down from 217.26 taka in the previous sale, the National Brokers said.

There was tepid demand from local buyers but strong demand for quality leaf, a senior National Brokers official said.

About 23.2% of the 2.76 million kg offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong remained unsold. In the previous auction, 16% of the 2.3 million kg on offer was unsold. Bangladesh’s tea output rose nearly 27% last year to a record 85 million kg, a harvest that was seen big enough to make imports unnecessary.

The south Asian country was the world’s fifth-largest tea exporter in the 1990s, but is now a net importer due to a surge in domestic consumption. Bangladeshi buyers have imported tea in bulk from India, Thailand and Malaysia, contributing to a glut in the domestic market and reducing demand at auctions, industry insiders said.