By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
The Colombo tea auction yesterday saw the brewing of an all-time record price with the western high grown BOPF grade fetching the highest-ever value for the first time in three years.

At the latest auction, the invoice of BOPF by Bearwell Estate Talawakelle, achieved a record price of Rs.780 per kilo. The value broke the previous record of Rs.700 set in 2013. 

Bearwell Estate is part of Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC, a member of Hayleys Group of Companies. The tea was sold through the catalogues of Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC.

The record price is said to have been paid by Tea-Link Colombo Ltd for a European customer.

It is observed that in the recent years the western quality season was unable to perform as expected at the auctions due to irregular weather, but 2016 is noted to be showing a turnaround in this regard.
“The exceptional weather conditions experienced on the western slopes of the Central Hills after many years have aided production of a very exciting range of seasonal quality teas this year,” said Asia Siyaka Commodities Senior Vice President Dhammike Wedande commenting on the progress. 

While BOPF fetched the highest price, it is noted that interestingly a range of other seasonal teas attracted special inquiry and were sold at attractive price levels.

The development is a definite welcome by the local tea sphere with the average tea auction prices for January ending on a grim note where all elevations recorded a lower sales vale year-on-year (YoY). The monthly auction average for January totalled Rs.410.94 compared to the Rs.424.14 of January 2015.

In terms of quantity, a total of 6.6 M/Kg came under the hammer. With fair demand observed, the feature of the sale was the strong demand for teas at the lower end of the market. According to Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers, this may auger well for the “demand” for tea in the forthcoming sales. 
Shippers to Turkey, CIS, Dubai, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were active this week. Improved interest from Japan and China was noted whilst less interest was shown from the UK and South Africa.