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Tea production on the increase

Tea production in October further bolstered the prospects of yet another excellent year for 'Ceylon' tea. The total production in October 2002 was 25.72 million kgs which is only the second highest ever for the month after 27.8m kgs recorded in 1999. From the previous year, this year's quantity is an increase of 3.5% with the highest percentage increase coming from the High Grown elevation, which is 47%, Mid grown production is up 9% for the month whilst the Low Grown sector is unexpectedly down 12% to 13.6m kgs, states a John Keells Ltd press release.

The cumulative quantity produced nationally from January in the current year is 253.07m kgs compared to only 241.17m kgs last year. Sri Lanka is therefore positioned well compared to all the other large producer countries, whose crop have failed sharply this year. The total excess this year is 11.8m kgs which is nearly a 5% improvement on last year. The High Grown production grew 19% (11.9m kg) to 72.5m kgs and the Mid Grown elevation has shown a modest increase of 2% (1.1m kg) to 44.3m kgs. The shortfall in the Low Grown sector during October has dragged down its contribution to the total crop by 0.8% (1.1m kg), which now tallies to 136.1m kg.

In view of the foregoing, and as predicted by our analysts, Sri Lanka is firmly on course to exceed 300m kgs by the year end, and should production continue on the current trends, we may easily see a annual record output - the best so far being 305.8m kgs in the year 2000.

Source: John Keells Ltd 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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