The falling trend witnessed in the offer for the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association in the recent weeks continues for sale 31 to be held on Thursday and Friday when the volume nosedives to 19.64 lakh kg.
This is as much as 1.25 lakh kg less than the offer for last week but it is the lowest volume of the last 15 weeks.
Unfavourable weather conditions are said to have affected the harvest in the fields which, in turn, has pulled down the production in factories resulting in lower offer of made tea for the auction.
Of the 19.64 lakh kg offered for this week’s auctions, as much as 18.31 lakh kg belongs to CTC variety and only 1.33 lakh kg orthodox variety. In the leaf tea counter, only 93,000 kg belongs to orthodox, while 13.59 lakh kg, CTC. Among the dust tea, only 42,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 4.72 lakh kg, CTC. In all, 14.52 lakh kg belongs to Leaf grades and 5.12 lakh kg, Dust grades.
No tea could cross ₹300/kg level last week. Chamraj orthodox tea topped the auctions at ₹296 a kg. Among CTC teas, Homedale Estate Pekoe Dust grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped when Tea Services India Pvt Ltd bought it for ₹292. In the CTC Leaf tea auction, Crosshill Estate Premium grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped at ₹227.
Quotations with the brokers indicated ₹76-78 a kg for plain Leaf grades and ₹150-191 for the best grades. For plain Dust grades, they ranged ₹75-79 and for the best grades, ₹150-198.