March tea output up 11% YOY

6 May 2013 03:28 am Views - 2847

Sri Lanka’s March tea production rose 11.3 percent from a year earlier due to favourable weather, pushing up output of the island nation’s top agricultural export by 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013, data from the state-run Tea Board showed on Thursday.

Monthly year-on-year output has gained in the past four months, helped by favourable weather. Production in 2012 edged down 0.4 percent from the year earlier due to adverse weather conditions.

Tea is one of the main foreign currency earners for the island nation’s $59 billion economy.