Three CTC leaf grades – Crosshill Estate Special, Pinewood Estate and Pinewood Premium – topped the entire auctions of sale 7 of Coonoor Tea Trade Association fetching ₹300 a kg each.

Among other CTC teas, Riverside Estate got ₹ 225, Homedale Premium ₹ 217, Vigneshwar Estate ₹ 216, Kannavarai Estate₹ 213, Waver Tree and Palmera Estate ₹ 211 each, Shanthi Supreme and Bellatti Estate ₹ 209 each, Hittakkal Estate ₹ 208 and Professor Superfine ₹ 200.

Among orthodox teas, Kodanad got ₹ 275, Havukal ₹ 253, Kairbetta ₹ 242, Kil Kotagiri ₹ 221, Devashola ₹ 211 and Narikkal Estate ₹ 201.

Overall, teas worth ₹ 7.77 crore remained unsold as there were no takers for as much as 40 per cent of the offer.

This was despite the average price dropping to ₹ 131.51 a kg – the lowest so far in calendar 2021.

As only 8.86 lakh kg was sold against 9.68 lakh kg last week despite the price fall, the overall earnings this week dropped to ₹ 11.65 crore from last week’s ₹ 12.90 crore. Consequently, the earnings fell by ₹ 1.25 crore or 9.69 per cent in just one week.

Both the upcountry buyers and exporters were selective and showed hesitancy to pick up high priced teas.

Harsh winter conditions in many countries, including parts of the US, Russia, Europe and Japan where waterways are frozen obstructing the movement of goods, have affected tea shipments, some exporters said.