The Hindu Business Line : Increased demand in N. Indian tea auctions

Last week, all three North Indian tea auction centres at Kolkata, Guwahati and Siliguri saw increases in demand for CTC teas and the prices were fully firm to dearer for all categories, according to J. Thomas & Company Pvt Ltd, tea auctioneers. There were good inquiries from domestic buyers as well as for exports.

Orthodox teas came to a firm to dearer market , particularly for the whole leaf grades , with the West Asia and the CIS buyers having operated strongly. The major blender was active for smaller brokens.

Darjeeling varieties continued to sell readily at fully firm rates with good support from traditional exporters for better categories. The major blenders were active with good local inquiry.

CROP

The crop situation in Assam continued to be subdued in the last week with leaf intakes being noticeably lower than that in early October last year.

Exports of North Indian teas registered a gain of 7.1 million kg to total 51.7 mkg during the period from January to August 2007. However, the exports of South Indian teas at 51.3 mkg in the same period were lower by 26.5 mkg as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

In Kenya, the demand eased slightly and the prices were irregular following quality.

Sri Lankan markets continued to gain momentum with prices for most segments having scaled unprecedented heights.