Top awards for Hayleys’ KVPL at Beijing Ceylon Specialty Estate Tea Competition

KVPL team comprised of Rajitha Gnanasekaran, Kasun Dhanapala, Pedro Estate DGM Anura Senanayake, KVPL Director/CEO Sarath Siriwardena, Daya Priyantha, Glassaugh Estate Group Manager Uditha Tennakoon, Nuran Amarathunga and Laxman Keregala

The Hayleys group company, Kelani Valley Plantations PLC (KVPL), took top awards at the recently concluded Ceylon Specialty Estate Tea of the Year Competition taking place in Bejing, China. 
Taking place at the culmination of the ‘Ceylon Tea Week’ organised by the Sri Lanka Tea Board and Colombo Tea Traders’ Association in partnership with the Sri Lankan Agriculture, Commerce and Cooperatives Ministries and the Embassy of Sri Lanka in China. Ceremonies were also held to recognize the best Sri Lankan tea factories which produced winning teas, in addition to a well-attended charity tea auction at the end of the week. 
The preliminary round of the competition was held in Sri Lanka following which, 98 samples of the best teas produced within the seven primary agro-climatic regions of Sri Lanka, as well as Ceylon Green Teas, CTC Teas and Innovative Teas/Handmade Teas were taken to China for the final competition. 
The second charity tea auction was held during the subsequent day at the Beijing Exhibition Centre (Russian Centre). While all the Gold winners were auctioned, only a few selected Silver and Bronze winners were identified for sale in view of the limited Sunday participants, with a total of RMB 41,600 being realized at the end of the second auction. 
Shenzhen Shenbao, a major buyer of Ceylon Teas, who continues to patronize imports of teas from Sri Lanka, turned out to be the highest bidder at the first charity tea action by securing the Nuwara Eliya Region Gold Award for Lovers Leap Garden Mark FBOP, at a price of RMB 10,000 for the five-kilo package (approximately Rs.44,000/kilo). 
Shenzhen Shenbao was also recognized for achieving the second highest bid at the same auction at RMB 9,000 for the Nuwara Eliya Region Silver Award, which was from Mahagastotte Garden Mark, OP, Grade (approximately Rs.39,600/kilo) for the five-kilo package. The Pedro Estate under Kelani Valley Plantations owns both these garden marks.
The grand finale was concluded at the National Agriculture Exhibition Centre in Beijing amid the ninth International Chinese Tea Exhibition. The first charity tea auction took place at the Event Hall of the exhibition location during the day following a final round of judging.
KVPL has consistently been ranked number one among Sri Lanka’s regional plantation companies in rubber. The company manages 26 tea and rubber estates with KVPL holding the record for the country’s highest-ever yield of 1008 kilogrammes per hectare. In addition, KVPL comprises 26 estates covering approximately 13,000 hectares in equal extents of tea and rubber, spanning three distinctive agro-climatic regions, employing over 11,000 workers.