February tea production up 6.6 % Year-on-Year

Sri Lanka’s tea production rose 6.6 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) to 19.99 million kilos in February, according to Forbes and Walkers Tea Brokers.  

In particular, mid grown teas rose by 18.3 percent YoY to 3.56 million kiols in the month, outpacing the production growth in high and low grown teas in the month. 

Meanwhile, green tea production recorded a marginal decline of 2.71 percent over the corresponding month in 2023.

According to Sri Lanka Tea Board, tea exports surged by 20 percent YoY to 22.31 million kilos in the month, outpacing the production in the month. 

The FOB value in rupee terms declined by Rs.250.82 YoY to Rs.1, 789.43 in the month due to appreciation of the currency. However, it  recorded positive variance in USD terms except for the instant tea segment.

During the first two months of the year, cumulative tea production rose by 3.5 percent YoY to 38.5 million kilos.
The cumulative exports during the period rose by 4.97 million kilos to 41.08 million kilos. For the year so far, Iraq, UAE and Russia were the top three markets of Ceylon Tea while Turkey fell out of top three rankings. Other notable importing countries are Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany, Azerbaijan and Chile.