Sri Lanka tea sector records highest ever exports in first half of this year
Sri Lanka’s tea exports in the first half of this year have reportedly reached its highest ever of Rs. 121.8 billion, which is an increase by 7% from the earlier record established during the corresponding period of last year despite a drop in volume.
Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers has issued a statement stating that the FOB value for the first half of 2019 was Rs. 839.46 per kilo, up by Rs. 11.33 per kilo from a year earlier.
Accordingly, January to June 2019 cumulative exports volume wise amounted to 145.1 million kilos down by 5.5% from the corresponding period of last year.
The industry has also witnessed a drop in volume in June though marginally by 0.6 million kilos to 24.1 million kilos.
Value wise the decline was Rs. 700 million to Rs. 19.9 billion, resulting in the FOB value of Rs. 829.12 per kilo down Rs. 4.09 from a year earlier.
However, bulk tea exports have shown an increase in June, whilst tea bags and packeted tea have shown a decrease compared to the corresponding month of 2018.
On a cumulative basis, tea bags, packeted tea together with bulk tea have shown a growth year on year, reports state.
Forbes has further stated that Iraq has retained the No. 1 spot as the largest importer of Sri Lankan Tea for the period January-June 2019 followed by Turkey, Russia and Iran.
Further, Libya, China and Azerbaijan are some of the noteworthy importers, whilst it is also relevant that destinations such as India, Germany and USA have shown a significant growth in imports for the period under review when compared to the corresponding period of 2018, Forbes has added.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tea exports have been recording an increase in the past few months with the first half of this year recording the highest values. This is a great confidence boost for Sri Lanka’s tea industry that is on a growth path and is aiming to regain its top slot in the global tea market. The Sri Lanka Tea Board is to launch a massive global promotional campaign in September as well. All this has resulted in the expansion of business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tea industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/30072019/Z_3 |