COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s exports of tea bags, which earn more than bulk tea, fell again in October 2015 from a year ago although overall shipments increased, according to the latest export data.
Tea exports in October 2015 grew by 1.7 million kilos to 29 million kilos from the previous year.
“Bulk tea together with packeted tea has shown a growth year-on-year whilst tea bags have shown a decrease,” Forbes & Walker Tea brokers said.
Overall export earnings from tea fell by 700 million rupees in October 2015 to 16.8 billion rupees from the year before.
Sri Lankan tea exports and prices have fallen owing to the slump in demand in key markets.
Total tea exports in the January – October 2015 period fell by 13.5 million kilos to 255.1 million kilos from the same 2014 period.
“Although tea in bulk have shown a growth year-on-year, packeted tea together with tea bags have shown a fairly significant decrease,” Forbes & Walker Tea brokers said.
Overall tea export earnings in the 10 months to October 2015 fell by 24.7 billion rupees to 151.1 billion rupees from a year ago.
Russia was the largest importer of Sri Lankan tea during the period followed by Turkey and Iraq.
