The Hindu Business Line : Tea volume continues to be low at Coonoor

Coonoor May 24 The volume of teas coming up for sale at the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) continues to be low with the catalogue for this week totalling 6.34 lakh kg.

This is marginally higher than the volume of 6.23 lakh kg offered last week. Barring that, this is the lowest volume of the last nine weeks.

In the corresponding sale of last year, a volume of 11.3 lakh kg had been offered. That time, the leaf grads alone totalled 7.74 lakh kg - more than the combined volume of leaf and dust now.

Of the 6.34 lakh kg, as much as 4.34 lakh kg belong to the leaf grades and only 2 lakh kg, dust grades. Again, as much as 5.8 lakh kg belong to the CTC variety and only 0.54 lakh kg, orthodox variety.

The share of orthodox variety is low in both leaf and dust categories. In the leaf category, orthodox accounts for only 0.22 lakh kg, while the CTC is 4.12 lakh kg. In the dust category, orthodox comes to 0.32 lakh kg, while the CTC is 1.68 lakh kg.

Dry weather

The low volume arises from the dry weather of the last couple of months. "The leaves are dry. The juice content is low. Succulence is also low. This is reflecting on quality as well," an auctioneer told Business Line.

Last week, the demand was felt only for quality invoices. The prices of quality teas rose even as other struggled to remain firm.