Demand improved for good liquoring varieties from upcountry buyers, pushing up prices of select tea grades at the Kochi auctions this week.
The market for select best, good liquoring and popular marks in CTC dust was firm and sometimes dearer, especially powdery grades in sale number 25. This was reflected in the average price realisation which increased to ₹126 against ₹124 in the previous week.
The rest was lower and irregular by ₹3 to ₹5, witnessing heavy withdrawals. Government entity Incoserve did not operate, while Supplyco's operations were limited, absorbing lesser quantity compared to last week. Crop arrivals were good with offered quantities remaining at 10,28,464 kg and 71 per cent was sold.
In orthodox dust, good primary grades remained steady, while the remainder was lower and witnessed a lot of withdrawals. The quantity offered was 30,500 kg, in which a small quantity was absorbed by exporters.
The leaf market was down following a subdued demand both from exporters and upcountry buyers. Exporters to CIS and Middle East lent only useful support. The quantity offered in orthodox leaf was 2,57,448 kg with Nilgiri brokens, whole leaf and Fannings remained barely steady and tended to ease. There was a drop of around Rs3 per kg in average price realisation which stood at ₹152 compared to ₹155 in the previous week.
In CTC leaf, the market for brokens and Fannings was lower by ₹5 to ₹10 and witnessed a lot of withdrawals. The quantity offered was 84,000 kg.