The cumulative turnover at the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) till October this calendar has increased by 7.62 per cent over the same period of 2017.

This is due to 22 lakh kg more tea being sold despite the average prices rising by ₹2.63 a kg, reveals our analysis of the Market Reports.

Till October, 43 auctions had been conducted when the demand from upcountry buyers and exporters had increased in the context of overall decline in the country’s tea production.

This led to the prices rising to an average of ₹88.19 a kg from ₹85.56 in the 10 months of 2017.

Unmindful of this, the buyers showed keen interest to pick up the available volume to overcome short supplies. This helped the volume sold to rise to 5.21 crore kg from 4.99 crore kg in the 10 months of 2017.

Consequently, the overall realisation in the 10 months of this calendar increased to ₹459.47 crore from ₹426.94 crore in the same months of 2017.

This increase of ₹32.53 crore marked a gain of 7.62 per cent.

At this rate, traders expect the overall earnings this calendar to rise to ₹550 crore from last year’s ₹517 crore.

A silver lining in the CTTA auctions this year was the all-time record in price set up by Avataa Beverages at ₹2,401 a kg – the highest price fetched by any tea from any factory in any regular auction in any centre anywhere in South India.