Lower quantity; good demand at tea auctions this week

Thursday, 6 December 2012 01:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The overall auction quantity declined further this week and totalled 5.8M/kgs. There was good demand all around.

Ex-Estate offerings too were lower to last and totalled 1M/kgs. Overall quality on offer with the exception of a few select Western’s were mostly lower to last. In this backdrop the excellent demand witnessed at this week’s auction is indeed encouraging! Perhaps arising due to urgent shipment.

BOPF’s from the Western planting districts appreciated by Rs. 20 per kg and more as the sale progressed whilst the corresponding BOPs however, failed to attract similar demand and often sold at Rs. 10-20 per kg lower than last levels.

Consequently the BOPFs are now realising a premium of Rs. 30-50 over their corresponding BOPs. Nuwara-Eliyas continued to witness poor demand. The overall price movement for teas from the Eastern sector followed a similar trend with BOPs declining up to Rs. 20 per kg and the corresponding BOPFs witnessing a firm to dearer trend. The feature of the sale would be the exceptional strong demand for the High and Mid Grown PF1’s which as a result appreciated Rs. 50-60 per kg and more.

Off Grades and Dust were no exception and appreciated by Rs. 5-10 and Rs. 20-30 per kg respectively.

Once again, strong buying – possibly to Pakistan and improved buying interest from the CIS and South Africa. Japan, UK and the Continent appeared less active.

Low Growns comprised of a slightly smaller volume of approximately 3M/kgs in the Leafy/Tippy catalogue. There was good demand all around. In the Tippy catalogue, FBOP/FBOPF1s were fully firm to dearer with the select best teas in particular moving up substantially.

A fair range of FBOPFSP/FBOPFEXSPs too met with better demand this week. Here again prices were dearer to previous. At the lower end too, there was wide spread demand and prices gained substantially. In the Leafy catalogue too, better made OP/OPAs met with excellent demand and often gained substantially. Others were firm on last.

OP1/BOP1s sold around last levels with a few select lines moving up on last. Select best PEK/PEK1s too were dearer to previous, whilst others mostly sold around last levels. Shippers to CIS, Dubai, Turkey, Iraq and Libya, together with Saudi Arabia, were active this week. (Source: Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers)