Bad weather to negatively affect January tea output

The present inclement weather conditions in the country may affect the tea intake in January as it has resulted in poor worker turnout in the plantations, John Keells Tea Brokers said.

According to the Meteorological Department forecast, more rain could be expected in the coming days.

“The inclement weather has resulted in poor worker turnout on the plantations. Intakes from the Low Grown Sector too were marginally lower due to lack of sunshine and overcast conditions. Western sector, although wet has had slightly brighter weather and crop intakes from this sector are on the upward trend,” John Keells Tea Brokers commented.

On the global front, Kenya continues to record healthy intakes, commencing with the last quarter of 2012 which has eased the overall deficit to 8.4 million kilograms by end November from a substantial deficit of 21 million kilograms midway into the year. As at end November, Kenyan tea exports have recorded a slightly higher volume compared to the same period last year.

Adverse weather conditions in India continued to plague the tea industry with crops on a downward trend, particularly from the highest producing North Eastern Assam state. All India Tea Crop has recorded a deficit of 5.53 percent between January – October compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, consequently export volumes in the first nine months of the year were lower along with less foreign exchange earnings. Despite the lower export volume the unit price realized has been higher. Statistics released by the country’s Tea Board indicate that India has lost exports to all its markets with the biggest being accounted for by the Commonwealth countries.

In the meantime, whilst most of the major Black Tea producing countries recorded a drop in production in 2012, Bangladesh on the contrary recorded a surplus. To end October 2012, Bangladesh had harvested a crop 52.24 million kilos compared to 48.98 million kilos during the corresponding period of 2011. It is also reported that, Tea Exports from Bangladesh has dropped due to a rise in domestic consumption.

Internal consumption has been rising at the rate of 3.5% annually against a 1% rise in production. If this trend continues tea industry sources state that, Bangladesh may have to resort to imports by the year 2015. Bangladesh produces approximately 60 million kilos of tea annually.