Tea exports decline for second straight month

• February tea exports down by 13% YoY
• Exports of main tea categories dip
• Jan.-Feb. cumulative exports at 36.11 MnKgs
• Turkey, Iraq and Russia emerge as top three buyers
• Exports to Japan, Lebanon and Belgium improve significantly 

Sri Lanka’s tea exports declined for the second consecutive month in February.  
The provisional data from Sri Lanka Customs showed that the tea exports for the month of February totalled 18.55 MnKgs, a decline of 13 percent when compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. 

The analysis by Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers showed that the main categories of bulk tea and packeted tea have shown a decrease, while tea bags have recorded a marginal increase when compared to the corresponding month in 2022. 

Accordingly, the cumulative exports for the January-February 2023 period totalled 36.11 MnKgs, down by 4.42 MnKgs when compared with the corresponding period of the previous year. 

A brief analysis of the tea exports for the first two months of the year showed that the main categories of bulk tea and packeted tea have recorded a decline. Tea bags recorded a marginal increase when compared to the corresponding period in 2022. 

Turkey emerged as the largest importer of Ceylon Tea, with quantities expanding by 139 percent year-on-year (YoY) for the first two months of the year.

Ranking second was Iraq while securing the third position as the largest market for Ceylon Tea was Russia. However, the tea imports by the two countries dipped by 37 percent and 25 percent YoY, respectively. 

The UAE moved down to the fourth position, with imports declining by 11 percent YoY. Azerbaijan, which remains the fifth largest importer of Ceylon Tea, procured 28 percent less tea than it did in the corresponding period of the previous year. 

The other notable importers of Ceylon Tea were China, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordon and Iran. 

The imports from destinations such as Libya and Iran decreased significantly by 51 percent YoY and 50 percent YoY, respectively. 

The imports from Japan, Lebanon and Belgium improved substantially by 57 percent, 213 percent and 115 percent, respectively.Earnings from tea exports in 2022 fell 5 percent YoY to US $ 1.25 billion and Sri Lanka earned US $ 99.6 million from tea exports in January 2023, up 9.1 percent YoY.