Teas worth ₹21.05 crore remained unsold at Sale No: 48 of auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association as there were no takers for as much as 61 per cent of the offer. The demand was so weak that this happened despite the producers shedding the average price by as much as ₹ 11.54 a kg.

This week only 7.14 lakh kg tea was sold against 8.86 lakh kg last week. With less tea being sold at reduced prices, the overall earnings dropped to ₹9.29 crore from ₹ 12.56 crore, marking a whopping loss of ₹3.27 crore or 26 per cent in just one week.

In effect, this meant that more teas remained unsold than were sold at the auctions necessitating the producers to look for buyers outside the auctions or take up the option of re-cataloguing them for any future auction.

Upcountry buyers said that they were taking a ‘wait-and-watch’ stand before investing on high priced teas as the general spending power has come down after the Diwali festival spending.

Homedale Estate’s Red Dust grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped the entire auctions this week when Tea Services India Pvt Ltd bought it for ₹302 a kg. This was the only grade that exceeded ₹300/kg mark this week.

Homedale Estate’s Pekoe Dust grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, followed at the Dust tea auctions at ₹264.

In the CTC Leaf tea auctions, Homedale Estate’s Broken Pekoe grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped at ₹281.

Among other CTC teas, Crosshill Estate Special got ₹221, Shanthi Supreme got ₹215 and Deepika Supreme ₹201. All others got less than ₹200/kg.

Among orthodox teas, Glendale topped at ₹ 232 followed by Kodanad ₹221, Lockhart ₹219, Havukal ₹218, Devashola ₹211, Kairbetta ₹210, Kil Kotagiri and Nonsuch Orthodox ₹206 each, Siruvani ₹202 and Chamraj ₹201.

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