The fall in volume seen in the last couple of weeks at the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association continued this week as producers complain that the chilly weather and prolonged holidays in the villages for the traditional Hethaiamman festival have led to lower production.

A volume of 15.12 lakh kg has been catalogued for Sale 4 to be held on Thursday and Friday. This is some 80,000 kg less than the volume offered for last week’s sale. The volume fell by 1.56 lakh kg in the last fortnight.

Of the 15.12 lakh kg offered, as much as 13.66 lakh kg belongs to CTC variety and only 1.46 lakh kg to orthodox variety. The proportion of orthodox teas continues to be low in both leaf and dust grades. In the leaf counter, only 88,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 9.21 lakh kg, CTC. Among the dusts, only 58,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 4.45 lakh kg to CTC. In all, 10.09 lakh kg belongs to Leaf grades and 5.03 lakh kg to Dust grades.

A new price record was set for the second consecutive auction last week when the Pekoe Dust grade of Homedale Tea Factory, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers (GTB), was bought by Shree Abirami Enterprises for ₹307 a kg, beating their own record of ₹302 at the previous auction. Homedale’s Red Dust grade, auctioned by GTB, fetched ₹300 a kg. No other CTC tea entered the high-price bracket of ₹200/kg in Leaf or Dust auctions.

Quotations with the brokers indicated ₹64-67 a kg for plain Leaf grades and₹122-150 for the best grades. For plain Dust grades, they ranged ₹64-68 and for the best grades, ₹126-168.

comment COMMENT NOW