Jan-Feb tea exports up; earnings marginally down

27 March 2015 03:50 am

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe
Ceylon Tea export quantities have increased for the cumulative period of January and February 2015, while prices have dropped, likely due to the weakened Russian rouble.Volumes, including re-exports with imported tea, for the two months amounted to 48.03 million kilogrammes, an 8 percent increase year-on-year.

Turkey has overtaken Russia as the single biggest export destination as experts predicted, with the export of 6.1 million kilogrammes of Ceylon Tea, which is a 10 percent growth yoy, while exports to Russia declined 20.5 percent yoy to 5.66 million kilogrammes.

Cumulative export earnings marginally declined by 3.22 percent yoy to Rs. 29.32 billion, while FOB price per kilogramme fell to Rs. 610.42 from Rs. 684.19 yoy.

Despite some sections of the market saying that Ceylon Tea continues to command a premium, experts also say that Sri Lanka is a price-taking country, bowing down to external pressures.

A recent report said that the Ceylon tea industry would have a negative outlook in short-medium term due to macro factors, but will bounce back in the long term.