The Hindu Business Line : Tea prices fall at Coonoor sale

Prices fell by Rs 3 a kg at the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) auctions here on Friday. The volume on offer was 8.81 lakh kg - the highest for the last five weeks.

Several reasons have been attributed by the buyers for bidding low. "We are in no hurry to buy in bulk. With good rains, more teas are in the offing in the coming weeks. The catalogue is bulging from next week," a buyer told Business Line.

Drop in quality

Some buyers complained of a general drop in quality. "With holidays intervening last week, factories sacrificed on quality manufacture. We see more brown teas here," a buyer said. A leading purchaser for the upcountry markets pointed out that with the arrival of fresh season quality teas from the North-East gardens, it made for business sense for these traders to buy there.

Exporters choosy

Exporters also remained choosy. The buyers for Pakistan market remained selective even as the visiting delegation tried to impress on the sellers here of the intention to import.

These exporters picked up only blacker types of teas and paid around Rs 42, some Rs 5 a kg lower than the previous week. In the absence of competition, Iraq also was selective for the well-made smaller sorts and paid around Rs 43 a kg. Some enquiries were seen from CIS markets for the bolder grades.

"Brighter liquoring teas could be sold only when prices were dropped by Rs 2 a kg. The better medium grades lost more than Rs 3. The smaller brokens and fannings among the CTC leaf eased in value as the sale progressed. Orthodox whole leaf grades continued to suffer less demand and there were complaints of quality fall," an auctioneer said.

Quotations held by the brokers indicated bids ranging from Rs 39-40 a kg for the plain leaf grades and Rs 62-67 for the brighter liquoring teas. For the plain dust grades, the bids ranged from Rs 41-43, while for the brighter liquoring grades, Rs 64-67.