Tea prices slip at weekly auction

Tea prices in Bangladesh slipped at the weekly auction on Tuesday as the volumes offered were the highest of the season so far, including a larger quantity of poor grade leaf, brokers said. Bangladeshi tea fetched an average of 194.14 taka ($2.50) per kg against 198.43 taka in the previous auction held on January 21, an official from National Brokers Limited said.

Around 2.7 million kg of tea was offered at the auction centre in Chittagong, with 28 percent remaining unsold. Nearly 2 million kg of tea was offered, and 28 percent went unsold at the previous auction. “This was the largest offering of the season so far, and higher supplies of poor grade tea pulled down overall prices,” the official said.

The next auction will be held next Tuesday, with even bigger supplies than this week, he added. The South Asian country produces around 60 million kg of tea a year against demand of 65 million kg. Large volume of tea from India is being imported by Bangladeshi buyers, market insiders said.

Courtesy: Reuters