High Growns have shown a fairly significant growth YOY followed by Mediums, whilst Low Growns show a decline as against November 2018.The January-November cumulative production for 2019 of 278.1 million kg shows a marginal gain of 0.5 million kg against the volume of 277.6 million kg of January-November 2018.
On a cumulative basis, Medium Growns have shown a growth, whilst Low Growns have remained static. High Growns, however, show a decrease compared to January-November 2018.The January-November 2019 cumulative CTC production totaled 21.6 million kg, showing a marginal decrease of 0.3 million kg when compared to 21.9 million kg of January-November 2018. On a cumulative basis, all elevations have shown a negative growth YOY.
Tea exports for November 2019 totaled 21.9 million kg showing a marginal gain of 0.6 million kg from the 21.3 million kg of November 2018. Tea in packets has shown a growth YOY, whilst bulk tea has remained static and tea bags have shown a decline compared to November 2018.The January-November 2019 cumulative exports totaled 268.9 million kg, showing a gain of 11.9 million kg when compared with the volume of 257.01 million kg of January-November 2018.All categories of exports (i.e. packet tea, tea bags and bulk tea) have shown a growth YOY.
Revenue too, for the period January-November 2019 of Rs. 221.4 billion have recorded a gain of Rs. 10.8 billion compared to Rs. 210.6 billion of January-November 2018. Consequently, the FOB value of Rs. 823.51 per kg for January-November 2019 gained Rs. 3.83 vis-à-vis Rs. 819.68 per kg of January-November 2018.
Turkey has secured the No. 1 position as the largest importer of Sri Lankan Tea for the period under review, followed by Iraq and Russia. Other noteworthy importers are Iran, Libya, China, Azerbaijan, Syria and UAE. Meanwhile, destinations such as USA, Germany, India and Saudi Arabia have shown a significant growth in 2019 compared to the corresponding period of 2018.