Sri Lanka tea exports down 10-pct in July; dollar and rupee earnings up
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s tea exports fell 10.91 percent from a year ago to 22.76 million kilograms in July 2022, though rupee and dollar earnings were up due to a currency collapse, industry data showed.
US dollar earnings were up 2 percent to 117.5 million dollars in July from a year ago, data from Ceylon Tea Brokers show.
Rupee earnings were up 84 percent to 42.4 billion rupees, from 23 billion rupees in the previous year.
The average free onboard price for a kilogram of Ceylon Tea had risen to 5.16 US dollars in July 2022 from 4.51 a year ago.
The price of Tea in bulk per kilogram has increased to 1,610.35 rupees compared to 755.62 rupees in the same period last year.
Tea in packets price has increased to 1,740.88 rupees per kilogram compared to 834.12 rupees.
Tea in bags’ prices doubled to 3,062.91 rupees from 1,676.96 rupees.
The average price of instant tea in July was 2,821.22 rupees, up from 1,765.47 rupees in 2021.
Green tea prices had increased to 5,168.36 rupees per kilogram in July 2022, up from 2,361.62 rupees per kilogram in 2021.
In the seven months to July, tea exports were down 9.5 per cent to 162 million kilograms from 148 million kilograms in the previous year.
In dollars terms, the total value of export from January to June is 702 million dollars, down 8.3 percent.
Whereas in rupee terms, Sri Lanka has generated 206 billion rupees for the first seven months of 2022 compared to 150 billion rupees in 2021.
Iraq has remained the top buyer, consuming 27.9 million kilograms this year, recording an increase of 35 percent compared to last year’s 20 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/Aug21/2022)
