Buoyancy returned after a fortnight to the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association with an increase on all four parameters – price, volume sold, percentage sold and the overall earnings – at Sale No: 47.

Upcountry buyers stepped up their intake to cover possible short supplies ahead of winter. “Floods in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have caused concern in the trade circuits about the movement of these teas to the market. Most buyers in Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan are in the process of building up stocks especially with quality teas which have longer shelf life,” a buyer told BusinessLine .

The increased demand pushed up the average price to ₹96.73 a kg – the highest in more than five months. The previous high was ₹98.75 on June 18. Nevertheless, the volume sold rose to 16.97 lakh kg – the highest in a fortnight.

As larger volume was sold at a higher average price, the overall earnings increased to ₹16.42 crore – the highest in a month. This also meant that the earnings increased by as much as ₹2.63 crore (19.07 per cent) in just one week.

Auction topper

Export purchase continued to be subdued with most purchase being for prices less than ₹100 a kg. The bought leaf factory Homedale Tea Factory’s Red Dust grade, auctioned by Global Tea Auctioneers Pvt Ltd (GTAPL), topped the entire auction when Tea Services India Pvt Ltd bought it for ₹ 360 a kg.

Homedale Broken Orange Pekoe grade, auctioned by GTAPL, topped the Leaf tea auctions fetching ₹331 a kg. These two were the only grades which crossed ₹300/kg and hence, it beat even the export-oriented teas from corporates.

Among other CTC teas, Crosshill Estate Special got ₹286, Pinewood Estate ₹266, Shanthi Supreme ₹231, Vigneshwar Estate ₹213 and Deepika Supreme and Hiribil Excel ₹201 each and Hittakkal Estate ₹200. Among orthodox teas, Kodanad got ₹260, Kairbetta ₹226 and Nonsuch Orthodox ₹200. Overall, nearly 94 per cent of the offer was sold.

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