Tea exports in May down 17% YoY

The tea exports for the month of May dipped by 17 percent year-on-year (YoY), with the quantities shipped contracting to 19.72 MnKgs.

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Tea Board show that all main categories: tea in bulk, packeted tea and tea bags, have shown a negative variance compared to May 2021.The cumulative exports for the January-May 2022 period totalled 101.72 MnKgs, showing a decrease of 8.27 when compared with the 109.99 MnKgs of January-May 2021. Here again, all categories witnessed a decline in comparison with the corresponding period of 2021.

Iraq has emerged as the No. 1 major importer of Ceylon Tea, with an increase of 56 percent YoY in January-May 2022. The UAE has secured the second position, with a total of 8.81 MnKgs, which is a 15 percent increase against the total imports recorded for January-May 2021.

Russia sits in the third place, with a total of 8.46 MnKgs followed by Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran, with average imports of 5.0 MnKgs recorded during the period January-May 2022.

A significant decrease in imports is reported from Russia (19 percent), Turkey (57 percent), China (24 percent), Syria (33 percent) and Jordon (21 percent) YoY.  Meanwhile, the FOB value of Rs.1,202.06 records an increase of Rs.264.97, compared to Rs.937.09 of January-May 2021. All main categories (tea in bulk, packeted tea and tea bags) show a negative variance in US dollar terms when compared to the same period of 2021.