October tea production dips 22.4% YoY

• Cumulative tea production for first 10 months of 2022 lowest since 1995
• All elevations show a dip in output

The tea production for the month of October decreased by 22.4 percent when compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. 

The tea output totalled 18.75 MnKgs.

The data from the Sri Lanka Tea Board show that all elevations have declined over the corresponding month of 2021. Even when compared with the October 2020 figures, the output is lower by 5.09 MnKgs. The cumulative analysis for the January to October 2022 period shows that the production totalled 211.39 MnKgs, recording a significant decrease of 47.51 MnKgs, compared with the 258.90 MnKgs of the corresponding period of the previous year.

According to Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers, this would be the lowest recorded for the period under review since 1995, where it recorded approximately 201.78 MnKgs. On a cumulative basis, all elevations have shown a decline over the corresponding period of 2021. Further, when compared to 225.28 n/Kgs of Covid-19-impacted January-October 2020, the cumulative production of January-October 2022 shows a decrease of 13.90 MnKgs. On a cumulative basis, once again, all elevations show a decline over the corresponding period of 2020. 

Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel, addressing the media this week attributed the drop in crop to the reduced access to fertilisers and weedicides. He said measures are being taken to ensure plantations have the required amounts of chemical boosters to improve the crop output.

However, with regard to weedicides, he said efforts must be taken to use alternative methods, instead of relying on glyphosate, so that the purity of Ceylon Tea is maintained.  He called on planters to improve productivity and increase yields by about 600 kgs an acre, so that the overall production volumes would shoot up.