Tumultuous times for tea

• August crop plunges to lowest in 28 years
• First eight months cumulative figure lowest since 1996

Sri Lanka’s tea industry is going through tumultuous times in terms of production with crop levels plunging to near three-decades low.

The August crop of 18.27 million kilos is the lowest in 28 years and the first eight months production at 171.37 million kilos is lowest since 1996 according to Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers.

It said August 2022 crop was a decline of 5.6 million kilos or 23% year on year and all elevations have shown a decline over the corresponding month of 2021. “This is the lowest recorded for the month of August in a calendar year since 1994 where it recorded 16.20 million kilos,” Forbes and Walker added.

When compared with the 22.45 million kilos of August 2020, the latest crop is down by 4.18 million kilos or 18%.

January to August 2022 crop reflects a significant decrease of 40.60 million kilos from the corresponding period of last year. “This would be the lowest recorded for the period under review since 1996 where it recorded 169.7 million kilos,” Forbes and Walker said. It added that on a cumulative basis too, all elevations have shown a decline over the corresponding period of 2021.

When compared to the 179.40 million-kilo crop of COVID-19 impacted January-August 2020, cumulative production of 2022 shows a decrease of 8.03 million kilos or 4.47%. On a cumulative basis, all elevations show a decline over the corresponding period of 2020.

The sharp drop in production, however, has helped to boost prices of tea sold via the Colombo auctions.

Value for Ceylon tea continues to soar with August recording the highest ever Free On Board (FOB) both in dollars and rupees.

The FOB value of Rs. 1,951.82 per kilo in August 2022 was the highest ever in a calendar month, surpassing the previous best of Rs. 1,863.74 per kilo achieved in July. The FOB value has seen an increase of Rs. 1,034.62 per kilo compared to Rs. 917.20 of August 2021. In dollar terms, a gain of 0.82 per kilo. In the first eight months of 2022, the FOB value of Rs. 1,470.54 per kilo reflects an increase of Rs. 543.33 per kilo as against Rs. 927.21 in the corresponding period of last year.

The FOB value per kilo in August was $ 5.41, the highest in more than 20 years. Last year FOB value was $ 4.55 and the previous record was $ 5.29 in 2017.

In August earnings from tea export rose by 6.52% YoY to $ 124.4 million but the performance in the first eight months was lower by 7% to $ 819.3 million. In July tea exports inched by 2% year on year to $ 117.5 million and first seven months figure was down by 9%.