The falling trend witnessed in the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association is to continue in Sale No: 27 to be held on Thursday and Friday. A volume of 23.23 lakh kg will be offered in the auction, which is some 14,000 kg less than that offered in the last auction.
The volume offered includes some teas which had remained unsold in previous auctions, but a substantial quantity is comprised of fresh arrivals manufactured with green leaf plucked after the recent unseasonal but favourable rains.
Of the 23.23 lakh kg to be offered at this week’s auctions, as much as 21.97 lakh kg is of the CTC variety and only 1.26 lakh kg is of the orthodox variety. The proportion of orthodox teas continues to be low in both the leaf and dust grades. In the leaf tea counter, only 81,000 kg belongs to orthodox, while 16.57 lakh kg is of the CTC variety. Among the dust teas, only 45,000 kg belongs to orthodox, while 5.40 lakh kg belongs to the CTC variety. In all, 17.38 lakh kg belonged to leaf grades and 5.85 lakh kg to dust grades.
The CTC Pekoe Dust grade of Homedale Tea Factory, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped the auctions last week when Shree Abirami Enterprises bought it for ₹317 a kg. The green tea from Pascoes Woodlands, auctioned by Paramount Tea Marketing (SI) P Ltd, was bought by Radhika Traders for ₹301 per kg. No other tea could cross the ₹300/kg level.
Quotations with brokers indicated ₹80-81 a kg for plain leaf grades and ₹138-190 for the best grades. For plain dust grades, they ranged from ₹80-85 and for the best grades, ₹159-180.