The Hindu Business Line : Rs 1.33-cr worth teas unsold at Coonoor auction

Coonoor March 18 Teas worth about Rs 1.33 crore went unsold out of the nearly Rs 3.07 crore worth on offer in the postponed Sale No: 10 of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) here.

The sale was postponed last week because only the unsold portion of the previous two weeks was auctioned then. This arose from the huge volume of teas remaining unsold at the auctions after the decision to conduct the auctions only under the VAT regime.

With exporters continuing to stay away and the upcountry buyers crossing their fingers over the possibility of retaining the retail hold after paying the 4 per cent VAT, nearly half of the leaf grades and 30 per cent of the dust grades on offer went unsold here.

Of the 6.21 lakh kg on offer, leaf accounted for 4.38 lakh kg and dust grades 1.83 lakh kg. At the prevailing auction average, it is estimated that around Rs 1.04 crore worth of leaf grades and about Rs 29 lakh worth of dust grades went unsold.

But, the sale itself could be effected in most cases only by shedding the prices. "CTC leaf better medium and medium teas could be sold only by shedding Rs 3 a kg. Plainer teas lost much more. The bulk of such teas remained unsold for want of bids. Orthodox whole leaf varieties met with less demand. When sold, they fetched substantially lower prices. The bulk of them went unsold for want of bids. The range of brokens and fannings lost Rs 2-4 a kg. Better medium CTC dusts lost 50 paise, while the plainer dusts Rs 2", an auctioneer told Business Line.

However, the brighter liquoring CTC dusts managed to fetch dearer prices. Primary orthodox dusts saw good demand on flavoury invoices and fetched handsome premiums. Liquoring secondary grades also sold dearer.

Corporate buyers

Among the corporate buyers, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) operated on good medium sorts.

Western Indian buyers chose CTC leaf and dusts. Karnataka buyers bought orthodox dusts.

Among the bought leaf factories, Darmona Estate and Homedale Estate got Rs 86 a kg, Highfield Estate Special Rs 83 and Vigneshwar Estate Rs 80.

Quotations held by the brokers indicated bids ranging from Rs 40 to 43 for the plain leaf grades and from Rs 63 to 70 for brighter liquoring grades. They ranged from Rs 40 to 43 for the plain dust grades and from Rs 63 to 80 for the brighter liquoring grades.