Sri Lanka tea production for the period January-December 2018 reached 303,843 MT showing a decrease of 3,237 MT against the volume of 307,080 MT registered during the same period of 2017. The decline in tea production has reflected in two categories – orthodox and green teas while CTC tea production has rose over the previous years' volume. The orthodox tea production has come down by 5,322 MT with green tea segment registering a decrease of 23 MT only over the 2017-2018 period . The non-availability of an accepted weedicide , labour issues may have contributed towards the decline in tea production in high and medium grown elevations. The adverse weather conditions affected the low grown elevation tea cultivation to a great extent.
CTC tea production for year 2018 recorded 23,902 MT, registering the highest ever volume surpassing the previous best of 23,303 MT achieved in 2012. It also records a gain of 2,108 MT vis-à-vis 21,794 MT produced in 2017. The breakdown of 2018 tea production is appended below ( in MT ).
Production Method | 2018 |
Orthodox | 227,340 |
CTC | 23,902 |
Green | 2,601 |
Total | 303,843 |
Sri Lanka tea exports for the period January-December 2018 reached 282,363 MT against the volume of 288,984 MT registered for 2017 showing a decrease of 6,621 MT . The decline in tea exports is a result of some external and internal factors. Among the external factors the US financial sanctions on Iran was a key issue while the decrease in tea production in the country top the domestic issues . The decline in tea exports has witnessed in all categories of tea exports.
The total export revenue of Rs. 231.7 billion realized during January-December 2018 records a deficit of Rs.1.6 billion when compared with Rs.233.3 billion achieved during the same period of 2017. However, it is noteworthy that average FOB value for January-December 2018 of Rs.820.75 per kg has shown a growth of Rs.13.31 vis-à-vis Rs.807.44 per kg of January-December 2017 thus recording the highest FOB value ever surpassing the previous best which was realized in 2017 in rupee terms. In Dollar terms however, 2017 unit rate is marginally higher than 2018. The total tea export revenue in USD terms is estimated at USD 1.4 billion.
Iraq has emerged as the number one importer of Sri Lankan Tea in 2018 followed by Turkey and Russia with Iran retaining the 4th position. Other noteworthy importers are Libya, UAE, Azerbaijan, Syria and China. Meanwhile, destinations such as USA, Saudi Arabia, and Belgium too have shown a fairly significant growth in 2018, whilst destinations such as Japan and Ukraine have shown a decrease YOY. The summary of Sri Lanka tea exports in 2018 are given below ( in MT ).
Tea Category | 2018 |
Tea in Bulk | 122,428 |
Tea in Packets | 131,256 |
Tea in Bags | 21,578 |
Instant Tea | 2,481 |
Green Tea | 4,620 |
Total | 282,363 |
MAJOR IMPORTERS OF SRI LANKA TEA JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2018 ( MT )
COUNTRY | 2018 |
Iraq | 38,435 |
Turkey | 35,634 |
Russia | 30,580 |
Iran | 23,914 |
Libya | 13,686 |
U.A.E. | 11,077 |
Azerbaijan | 10,550 |
Syria | 10,180 |
China | 10,020 |
Chile | 7,540 |
Japan | 7,416 |
Germany | 6,042 |
Saudi Arabia | 5,590 |
USA | 5,561 |
Hong Kong | 4,872 |
MONTHLY TEA AUCTION AVERAGE PRICES FOR ALL THREE ELEVATIONS IN LKR AND USD PER KG
Months | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |||||
LKR | USD | LKR | USD | LKR | USD | LKR | USD | LKR | USD | |
January | 424.61 | 3.24 | 410.88 | 2.85 | 596.90 | 3.95 | 637.75 | 4.16 | 587.16 | 3.23 |
February | 418.28 | 3.11 | 403.84 | 2.83 | 596.85 | 3.97 | 633.73 | 4.10 | 581.96 | 3.27 |
March | 415.17 | 3.08 | 412.03 | 2.87 | 638.76 | 4.01 | 613.13 | 3.95 | 585.92 | 3.38 |
April | 408.35 | 3.01 | 429.34 | 2.99 | 648.52 | 4.05 | 609.00 | 3.88 | 578.23 | 3.34 |
May | 396.64 | 2.97 | 449.15 | 3.08 | 628.74 | 4.02 | 591.24 | 3.76 | 539.55 | 3.09 |
June | 398.16 | 3.01 | 432.12 | 2.96 | 606.87 | 3.95 | 545.67 | 3.39 | 494.48 | 2.78 |
July | 402.18 | 3.04 | 453.27 | 3.18 | 593.09 | 3.86 | 536.85 | 3.41 | 497.35 | 2.84 |
August | 385.54 | 2.91 | 505.40 | 3.46 | 632.00 | 4.13 | 534.02 | 3.34 | 545.34 | 3.06 |
September | 367.41 | 2.65 | 526.86 | 3.60 | 654.41 | 4.27 | 5373.77 | 3.25 | 512.83 | 2.88 |
October | 390.14 | 2.81 | 577.08 | 3.88 | 647.61 | 4.19 | 586.19 | 3.48 | 527.34 | 2.94 |
November | 412.19 | 2.92 | 599.10 | 4.01 | 628.98 | 4.11 | 589.35 | 3.36 | n/a | n/a |
December | 417.17 | 2.95 | 580.46 | 3.91 | 619.11 | 4.11 | 572.64 | 3.18 | n/a | n/a |