BK Birla group outfit Jay Shree Tea and Industries Ltd expects tea prices to firm up this year.

According to DP Maheshwari, MD, Jay Shree Tea, the average price of tea, which had gone down by 3 per cent in 2016, has risen in the first quarter this year. The dip in price was steeper for quality tea, he said. “We saw an almost 15 per cent dip in prices of quality tea last year as buyers were not picking it up. But this year we expect prices to go up. The first quarter has been better,” he told newspersons after the company’s annual general meeting here on Monday.

Jay Shree Tea witnessed₹30-40 a kg drop in average price of its quality Assam tea at the auctions last year. “Our tea would usually fetch ₹205-210 a kg. But prices dropped to ₹170 a kg last year. This year our sale average has been better so far and we expect prices to firm up by ₹15-20 a kg,” he said. For the year ended March 31, 2017, the company posted a 22 per cent decline in total revenue to ₹541 crore.