Sri Lanka July tea exports, earnings down

Sri Lanka’s tea exports for the month of July 2016 totalled 25.7 million kilograms (M/kgs) showing a decrease of 3M/kgs against 28.7M/kgs of July 2015. 

All main categories of exports, i.e., bulk tea, packeted tea and tea bags, showed year-on-year (YoY) declines, Forbes & Walkers Tea Brokers said.  

Revenue from tea exports in July hence fell by 1.3 billion to Rs.15.6 billion from Rs.16.9 billion recorded in July 2015. “However, the average FOB value per kg of Rs.609.33 for July shows a gain of Rs.20.77 when compared to Rs.588.56 of July 2015,” Forbes & Walkers said.

anuary-July cumulative exports for 2016 of 172.1M/kgs too showed a decrease of 8.1M/kgs against 180.2M/kgs of January-July 2015. 
When analysing the relevant categories, tea bags showed a YoY growth while packeted tea and bulk tea showed a decrease. 
Total revenue realized for the January-July 2016 was Rs.104.9 billion, down from Rs.107.6 billion in January-July 2015.
Here again the average FOB unit value per kg of Rs.609.80 for the period showed a gain of Rs12.44 against Rs.597.36 of the same period of 2015. 
When analysing the major importers, Iraq has retained the number one position followed by Russia and Iran. 

“It is also noteworthy that Iranian imports have shown a significant growth in 2016 vis-à-vis 2015,” Forbes & Walker said. 

Turkey and the UAE have retained the fourth and fifth positions in 2016 although YoY imports showed a fairly significant decrease compared to the same period of 2015. 
Meanwhile, Kuwait too for the January-July 2016 period showed a fairly substantial decrease in imports against January-July 2015.