Sri Lankan tea production picks up
Tea production is picking up but erratic weather patterns are likely to dampen state plans to achieve a target of 300 million kg for 2017. “Unless we get a good crop in the next four to five months it would not be possible to achieve 300 million kg by the end of this year,” Hayleys Plantations Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai told the Business Times.
He noted that the erratic weather patterns over the past few months and the sudden rains were not favourable on the estates.
Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda said he expects the final production figures for the end of this year to reach 300 million kg.
Annual crop production in 2015 was 328.8 million kg which slipped to 292.6 million kg last year, a year considered particularly bad for tea with prices and yields being severely impacted.
Statistics released by Asia Siyaka Commodities indicated that the production of High Grown teas had dipped marginally by 0.6 per cent to 40 million kg for the period January to July this year compared to the same period in 2016.
Medium Growns had picked up 1.1 per cent for the same period with 27.9 million kg produced this year against 27.6 million kg in 2016. Low Growns were up by 5.9 per cent during this period at 113.5 million kg this year for the period January to July compared 107.2 million kg last year. Exports for the period January – July 2017 reached 165.3 million kg, down by 4 per cent compared to the 2016 figure of 172.1 million kg. Total value of exports in the 7-month review period reached the highest ever value at Rs. 132.4 billion compared with Rs. 104.9 billion last year and was well above the previous record of Rs. 123.2 billion achieved in 2014 when a much larger quantity of 187 million kg was exported during the January – July period.