First half tea output hits 5-year high

Sri Lanka’s tea production in the first half of the year (1H19) has hit a five-year high, thanks to the favourable weather conditions that prevailed during the period resulting in higher output specially during the second quarter of the year.

Asia Siyaka Commodities in a brief note said, tea production in the first half edged up 0.2 percent to 158.5 million kilograms from a year ago.

According to tea brokers, the months May and June saw higher tea production, helping the first half to record the highest output in five years.

Tea production in the month of June rose 16.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 27.2 million kilograms.

However, for the first quarter of 2019, tea production was down by 1.1 million kilograms to 73.2 million kilograms from the same period last year.

During the first half, production of high-grown tea fell 4.4 percent YoY to 34.5 million kilograms while production of medium-grown tea rose 4.2 percent YoY to 25.5 million kilograms.
The production of low-green rose 0.9 percent YoY to 98.5 million kilograms. The government expects the total tea output in this year to surpass 300 million kilograms and earn US $ 1.5 billion from tea exports. Sri Lanka earned 1.43 billion from tea exports in 2018.