COLOMBO TEA AUCTION 22/07/2015

C O M M E N T S

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This week’s Auction offerings totalled a 7.5 M/Kgs. There was less demand and overall a lower market.

Ex-Estate offerings were maintained around 1.2 M/Kgs. There was less demand and prices often declined Rs. 20/- per kg and more following quality for the poor leaf teas. Best Western BOP’s where quality was maintained gained Rs. 10-20/- per kg. Others were irregular whilst the corresponding BOPF’s declined Rs. 20/- per kg on average. Plainer Western BOP’s declined Rs. 5-10/- per kg whilst the corresponding BOPF’s declined Rs. 30/- per kg and more for the poor leaf teas. Nuwara Eliaya BOP/BOPF’s declined by Rs. 20/- per kg and Rs. 30/- per kg respectively following quality. Udapussellawa BOP’s were mostly unsold whilst the corresponding BOPF’s declined Rs. 50/- per kg and more. Uva clean leaf BOP’s gained Rs. 10/- per kg whilst the others declined by a similar margin. The corresponding BOPF’s declined Rs. 30-50/- per kg and at times more for the poorer invoices. CTC teas on average declined Rs. 20-40/- per kg notwithstanding strong market conditions experienced at this week’s Mombasa Tea Auction. Liquoring leafy teas continued to be neglected with most teas on offer remaining unsold.

There was much less interest from the shippers to the CIS whilst UK, the Continent and South Africa remained selective. There was reasonable interest from Japan.

At this week’s sale Low Growns totalled approximately 3.4M/kgs in the Leafy/Tippy catalogues. There was fair demand but at lower  levels. In the Leafy catalogue better OP1/BOP1’s were irregular and lower with the exception of a few clean/improved sorts that held firm. Better OP/OPA’s too were firm whilst the others were irregular. PEK/PEK1’s too declined to last. Here again a few bolder types maintained. In the Tippy catalogue a few select best FBOP’s and a range of clean below best types maintained whilst the others and FF1’s were mostly lower, particularly following quality. Tippy invoices too were irregular. However a few select range of teas were firm to marginally dearer. Shippers to CIS, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait together with Iran were active this week.

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