On account of Good Friday, the dust auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association will be held on Thursday this week. Collectively, 9.62 lakh kg will be offered for Sale No: 14 to be held on Thursday, reveals an analysis of listing by brokers.

It is the lowest volume so far this calendar. It is about 1.67 lakh kg lesser than last week's offer and about 3.98 lakh kg lower than the offer this time last year.

Of the 9.62 lakh kg on offer, 6.96 lakh kg belongs to the leaf grades and 2.66 lakh kg to the dust grades. As much as 8.84 lakh kg is of the CTC variety and only 0.78 lakh kg, the orthodox variety.

The proportion of orthodox teas continues to be low in both the leaf and dust grades. In the leaf counter, only 0.39 lakh kg belongs to orthodox while 6.57 lakh kg comprises CTC. Among the dusts, only 0.39 lakh kg is orthodox while 2.27 lakh kg is CTC.

Of the 9.62 lakh kg, fresh teas account for 8.73 lakh kg. About 89,000 kg comprises teas which had remained unsold in the previous auctions. Last week, in the leaf market, HUL operated on good medium grades and Tata Global Beverages was selective.

Duncans Tea Ltd bought good medium brokens; Godfrey Philips India did not operate. In the dust market, HUL was selective, but Godfrey Philips, Duncans Tea and Tata Global Beverages did not operate. Generally, the market as a whole was dependent on internal buyers as export support was limited.