March tea crop slumps to 5 year low; drags down 1Q performance

Tea production in March has slumped to a five year low of 19.5 Mnkg, which is also the lowest since the COVID-19 lockdown year of 2020.

Quoting Sri Lanka Tea Board data, Asia Siyaka Research said this year’s dry weather and low fertiliser application by smallholders in Q1 caused production to drop 12% to 19.5 Mnkg compared with 22.2 Mnkg the year before. Last year March had a recovery after a slow start.

Asia Siyaka said high and mid growns dominated by Regional Plantation Companies (RPC’s) maintained production in March despite very dry conditions. “Thanks to fertiliser going in over the two previous quarters and good agricultural practices,” the produce broking firm added.

Following a bad March production for Q1 this year declined YoY 2023 for the first time to 58.1 Mnkg against 59.5 Mnkg. Once again it is the under achievement of the Low Grown sector that has driven the national total down with Q1 figure of 34.9 Mnkg against 37.4 Mnkg.

Asia Siyaka said high and mediums are ahead of last year despite the adverse weather, thanks to investment in fertiliser and reasons explained before. High growns are up from 12.8 Mnkg to 13 Mnkg. Mediums have recorded a sharp gain of almost 10% YoY to record production of 10.1 Mnkg; the best Q1 since 2021.