Reply To:
Name - Reply Comment
The tea exports for December 2023 totalled 20.75 million kilogrammes, recording a 7.5 percent increase year-on-year (YoY).
Packeted tea together with tea bags and green tea has seen an improvement against the corresponding month of 2022, whilst tea in bulk and instant tea have shown a decline.
The FOB value in December 2023 was recorded at Rs.1,749.40, a decline of Rs.269.14 YoY, compared to Rs.2,018.54 in December 2022. Furthermore, instant tea and tea bags show a positive variance in US dollar terms and negative variances were recorded in all other categories, both in Sri Lankan rupee and US dollar terms, a report compiled by Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said.
Meanwhile, the January-December 2023 cumulative exports totalled 241.91 million kilogrammes, a 3.3 percent contraction YoY.The tea bags and green tea categories have recorded marginal growth, whilst the remaining product categories recorded a decrease against the same period of 2022.
The FOB value for the period stood at Rs.1,770.44, an increase of Rs.127.33 vis-à-vis Rs.1,643.11 of January-December 2022.
All categories showed gains in US dollar terms as well when compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Iraq remains as the largest importer of Ceylon Tea, with a total of 32.75 million kilogrammes. This is however a decline of 24 percent YoY, against 43.24 million kilogrammes in 2022.
Turkey has emerged in the second place, with 30.41 million kilogrammes and growing by 95 percent YoY, surpassing Russia (third position) and the UAE (fourth position), where exports have declined by 8 percent and 18 percent YoY, respectively. China has moved up to number five, with an increase of 10 percent against the same period in 2022. The other notable importer countries are Libya, Azerbaijan, Chile, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Iran has dropped from the fifth to 11th position, with a 50 percent decline in imports for the period under review.
