tea report


 

US meltdown affects buying Bartleet Producemarketing

Tea Surveillance Report upto October 15:

The quantity of tea arriving at the Colombo auction this week increased to 7.048 mkg from 6.373 mkg traded in the previous week’s sale. Meanwhile, Ex-estate crops showed an increase from 0.681 mkg to 0.863 mkg.

Markets: In the Ex-estate segment, a lower market was witnessed where the BOP Fannings showed a considerable drop. However, the Nuwara Eliyas managed to pickup. With the prevailing rainy situation the quality is anticipated to deteriorate further.

At today’s auction most of the regular buyers such as the UK, The Continent, Japan and CIS showed very selective buying patterns as all these countries have been indirectly affected by the financial meltdown in the US.

In the Tippy market segment lower demand was witnessed where all the regular buying nations showed very selective buying patterns.

The Low-grown leafy segment experienced further decline and was lower by Rs. 10 to 15 overall, particularly the grades such as Pekoes and OP1’s that declined sharply. With most of the local buyers either expecting payments or orders from their counterparts abroad buying patterns were very moderate this week.

Damage Limitation: All players are also pointing to the current turmoil in the global market that has affected all commodities due to increased caution and vigilance being exercised by all financial institutions. Another affect of the financial crisis is the currency volatility which is dissuading the importers from making prompt decisions, which in turn is forcing them into a wait and see position.

According to industry sources, if the state of play is to continue as it is, characterized by uncertainty and volatility, the most advisable position to take is to focus on producing true to grade teas with good cup characters.

With the Kenyan crop returning to normality as compared to last year, buyers will at some point place the emphasis on quality issues and the islands exports need to stand in good stead when normality does finally return to the global markets, albeit under an significantly adjusted international financial order.

Go Organic: The world’s first certified organic tea estate and factory has been opened at Haldumulla. Originally the British began planting tea in 1875 at Needwood Group which currently has been converted to organic bio-cultivation by the guidance of Denzil Soza, in 1985. The estate was purchased by Soza in 1968 under the name of Needwood Emmag Limited, formed for this purpose.

The Needwood Organic Tea Project is the pioneer in organically grown tea farming both in the world and in Sri Lanka and the first estate that received international certification from inspectors as a project confirming to the organic agricultural disciplines laid down by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) based in Germany.

Presently the estate teas continue to be certified by renowned international certifying bodies such as NASAA, IMO-JAS EU and USDA and Fair Label Organisation (FLO) with accreditation to the IFOAM of Germany.

The fair-trade certified company thus have organic authorization into Australia, Japan, Europe Scandinavia and the USA.

Certified Seylani: Reza Seylani Tea (Pvt) Ltd was awarded ISO 22000:2005 by the Sri Lanka Standards Institution for keeping with the company’s mission of “Capturing The World With Quality Tea”.

The management is proud of this success as they are keeping on track, being internationally certified for maintaining high quality management system and food safety.

Industry Event: The Second Symposium on Plantation Crop Research was held on October 16 and 17 at the BMICH. The Coconut Research Institute, Tea Research Institute, Rubber Research Institute and the Sugarcane Research Institute jointly had organised the event.

According to the Tea Board Sri Lanka has reported an export volume of 101.774 mt of tea for the first seven months of 2008. It is estimated that the increase is 10.7 per cent or 18,511 mt over the corresponding year. Meanwhile the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Iran still remain as top buyers of Sri Lankan tea. The UAE has purchased 16.4 per cent of tea exports this year while Russia and Iran purchased 14.9 per cent and 10.6 per cent respectively.

Plantation Stocks: With reference to the weekly surveillance of the 18 plantation stocks, 15 were lower in value whilst only Maskeliya Plantation reported a gain of 1.7 per cent week on week. Two remained static.