The Hindu Business Line : Prices lower at Teaserve auctions

Producers who sold their teas through the Teaserve auctions – world’s first tea e-auctions – got the lowest price among all the auction centres in the country.

According to the Tea Board, in the first half of this calendar, producers who sold their teas through Teaserve fetched an average price of Rs 44.78 a kg. This was just 31 paise more than the last year average. Only 6.51 million kg out of the 175.5 mkg sold through the different auction centres in the country was sold through Teaserve.

This was some 5 lakh kg more than the volume last year.

Producers who sold through the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) got some Rs 3 a kg more to average Rs 47.73. This was a rupee more than the price fetched here last year. But, the volume sold was some 2 mkg lower than last year at 15.6 mkg.

Teaserve and CTTA were the only auction centres where the price average was below Rs 50 a kg. In the Coimbatore auctions, the average was a tad more than Rs 50 — up by Rs 2.45 over last year. But the volume sold dropped by 6 lakh kg.

In Kochi auctions, prices rose by Rs 6.07 a kg to Rs 58.25. But, the volume sold, dropped by 5 mkg.

Collectively, the southern auctions posted a gain of Rs 3.32 a kg over last year to reach Rs 52.58, but the volume sold dropped by 6 mkg.

In the North, the reverse happened with the volume rising and the price dropping. The average price dropped by Rs 1.07 a kg to Rs 69.72. This was to sell off 116 mkg – 1.6 mkg more than last year.

Kolkata auctions posted the country’s highest price average of Rs 75.50 a kg — 80 paise lower than last year. The volume sold rose by 1.2 mkg to 44.9 mkg.

On the whole, the teas sold through the country’s different auction centres fetched just 97 paise more per kg to average Rs 63.94.