Sri Lanka tea exports down 12.6-pct in June 2022, rupee earnings up in soft-peg collapse.
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s tea exports fell 12.65 percent from a year ago to 23.58 million kilograms in June 2022, though rupee earnings were up due to a currency collapse, industry data showed.
US dollar earnings were down 6 percent to 116.5 million dollars in June from a year ago, data from Ceylon Tea Brokers show.
Rupee earnings were up 69.4 percent to 41.9 million rupees, from 24.7 billion rupees in the previous year.
The average free onboard price for a kilogram of Ceylon Tea had risen to 4.94 US dollars in June 2022 from 4.59 a year ago.
The price of Tea in bulk per kilogram has increased to 1,516.12 rupees compared to 787.08 rupees in the same period last year.
Tea in packets price has increased to 1,677.33 rupees per kilogram compared to 862.83 rupees.
Tea in bags’ prices doubled to 3,072.71 rupees from 1,570.40 rupees.
The average price of instant tea in June was 2,824.34 rupees, up from 1,741.63 rupees in 2021.
Green tea prices had increased to 3,831.98 rupees per kilogram in June 2022, up from 2,267.89 rupees per kilogram in 2021.
In the six months to June, tea exports were down 8.5 per cent to 125 million kilograms from 136 million kilograms in the previous year.
In dollars terms, the total value of export from January to June is 584 million dollars, down 10.8 percent.
Whereas in rupee terms, Sri Lanka has generated 164 billion rupees for the first six months of 2022 compared to 127 billion rupees in 2021.
Up to June Iraq was the top buyer, consuming 23.5 million kilograms this year, recording an increase of 46 percent compared to last year’s 16 million kilograms.
Sri Lanka’s tea sector had been hit by a fertiliser ban, apparently done to ‘save foreign exchange’ due to the operation of a soft-peg and also under the advice of the Government Medical Officers Association to increase the longevity of the population. (Colombo/Jul17/2022)
