Teas worth about ₹30 crore which could not be auctioned last week as the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) postponed the sale due to the Covid-related lockdown has come up for trade at Sale No: 21 which will conclude on Friday.

The volume comprises 23.90 lakh kg – some 13,000 kg more than the offer for the previous sale.

Of this, as much as 22.40 lakh kg belongs to CTC variety and only 1.50 lakh kg orthodox variety. The proportion of orthodox teas continues to be low in both leaf and dust grades. In the leaf tea counter, only 1.07 lakh kg belongs to orthodox while 17.19 lakh kg, CTC. Among the dust tea, only 43,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 5.21 lakh kg, CTC. In all, 18.26 lakh kg belongs to Leaf grades and 5.64 lakh kg, Dust grades.

Quotations with the brokers at the last sale indicated ₹100-103 a kg for plain Leaf grades and ₹ 155-183 for the best grades. For plain Dust grades, they ranged ₹ 105-109 and for the best grades, ₹160-195.

“We have resumed the auctions after a fortnight break due to lockdown and we anticipate better trading activities especially because of the easing of the lockdown restrictions in many States. Traders are coming back to their shops and orders for our teas are picking up,” CTTA Chairman L Vairavan told BusinessLine .

“Besides, Assam tea plantations are facing production disturbances. Recently, there was hailstorm, now drought-like weather prevails there. Labour lines in several estates there are brought under lockdown due to the spread of Covid-19. So, upcountry traders are showing interest to procure teas from CTTA auctions,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the issue of absenteeism among the uploading and unloading workers in the warehouses has been solved and there is no disturbance to the movement of teas auctioned by CTTA,” he observed.

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