A reduced volume of 21.08 lakh kg is being offered for Sale No. 29 of the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association, which will conclude on Friday. This is 66,000 kg less than last week’s offer.

Of the 21.08 lakh kg offered, as much as 19.84 lakh kg belongs to CTC variety and only 1.24 lakh kg to the orthodox variety. The proportion of orthodox teas continues to be low in both leaf and dust grades. In the leaf counter, only 77,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 12.79 lakh kg is CTC. Among the dusts, only 47,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 7.05 lakh kg is CTC. In all, 13.56 lakh kg belongs to leaf grades and 7.52 lakh kg to dust grades.

Among the bought leaf factories selling CTC teas, only Homedale Tea Factory could enter the high-price bracket of ₹200/kg last week. Its Red Dust, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped the CTC market when Om Enterprises bought it for ₹223 a kg.

Quotations with the brokers indicated ₹65-70 a kg for plain leaf grades and ₹100-114 for the best grades. For plain dust grades, they ranged in ₹64-68 band and for the best grades ₹98-110.