Sri Lanka, a major tea producer, continues to maintain its position as the world’s highest tea export revenue earner although it has lost its number one position to Kenya as the highest exporter in the world, a couple of years ago.
Tea Board chief Lalith Hettiarachchi told the Business Times that Kenya surpassed Sri Lanka in volume during the last two years due to drought which damaged crops and resulted in a fall in production. “A severe drought in the first quarter of last year reduced our crop output and we had fewer teas to export,” he said. However he noted that Sri Lanka Tea export earnings surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2009 too despite the decline in domestic tea production.
He said that Sri Lanka is still the number one orthodox tea exporter in the world and exported 280 million kgs of orthodox tea last year which has a high demand worldwide. Kenya exports CTC teas suitable for tea bags, he said. “The Cut-Tear-Curl (CTC) method of manufacture is very popular in African countries and it is limited to about 6% in Sri Lanka,” Hettiarachchi said adding that the diversity in specialty of its orthodox tea process has been the power and strength of the tea industry in Sri Lanka,
Tea broker Saminda Deshapriya said that Sri Lankan tea fetches the highest FOB value per kilogram in the world. It maintains the top position of the highest tea export revenue earner among the tea producing countries, he added.
Mr Deshapriya said that Kenya’s tea exports often exceed production because it imports leaves and then re-exports them blended with local produce. But imports of tea into Sri Lanka is restricted because of opposition by producers who fear imported teas could reduce prices for their own product at the Colombo auctions, he said.
Sri Lanka’s re-export volumes of tea fell by half to 7.3 million kilos in 2009. Tea Board officials said the fall came despite a drop in local production owing to drought that would have usually led to more imports for re-export to make up part of the local shortage. |
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