DHAKA: Tea prices in Bangladesh rose at the weekly auction on Tuesday, snapping a five-week run of declines, on strong demand for quality leaf amid tight supplies.
Bangladeshi tea fetched an average of 167.83 taka ($2.13) per kg at the auction, compared with 161.04 taka in the previous sale. There was robust demand for quality tea and buyers were ready to pay premiums that helped prices rise while supplies were less than last week, a senior official of the National Brokers said.
However, a large volume of inferior grade tea was left unsold, the official added.
About 42 percent of the 2.58 million kg offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong was unsold. In the previous auction, about 39 percent of the 2.7 million kg on offer remained unsold.
Bangladesh’s tea production in 2016 is expected to have risen to a record 80 million kg from 66 million kg a year earlier, the Commerce Minister has said, output that may be big enough to make imports unnecessary.
From being a net exporter, Bangladesh is now a net importer of tea due to a rise in consumption.
