The Hindu Business Line : Darmona Estate earns record price

Coonoor May 24 Darmona Estate created history at the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) when a line of its CTC dust RD grade auctioned by J. Thomas & Co fetched Rs 102.50 a kg.

"Paras Tea of Coonoor bought it. This is the highest price fetched by any type of CTC teas in the auctions so far in 2007," J. Thomas told Business Line.

Dhavala and Vigneshwar Estate came a distant second at Rs 85. Homedale followed at Rs 84, Garswood Estate clonal Rs 83, Highfield Estate Special Rs 82 and Warwick Rs 81.

Darmona Estate's price this week surpassed many lines of orthodox teas from the corporate sector, belying the general contention that the orthodox teas fetch higher prices than the CTC teas.

Offer quality

Only four orthodox brands exceeded Darmona's CTC. Tiger Hill got the highest price of Rs 118 a kg, followed by Kodanaad, Curzon and Kairbetta at Rs 105. The only other top category was Glendale at Rs 100.

Overall, price followed quality. Despite the volume of 6.23 lakh kg being at an eight-week low, prices refused to rise on the average because the buyers complained of mediocre quality in the offer.

"Wherever the quality showed improvement, the bids were substantially high. Thus, nominal volumes of CTC dusts fetched Rs 5-10 a kg more. Brighter liquoring teas were dearer. Plainer teas eased by Rs 1-2 a kg," an auctioneer said.