Increase in tea exports, revenue

Surpasses Rs 12 b in February:

Harshini Perera

Tea export for the first three months of this year has had a 50 percent growth compared with the same period last year.

		Tea production (including green tea)

	   	  March	     January/March
Elevation	  2010		 2009*		2010		2009*
	  	  Kgs	  	  Kgs	   	 Kgs	  	  Kgs
High Grown	4,982,302	4,699,362	17,414,871	13,988,738
Medium Grown	3,737,044	3,241,501	11,684,034	8,395,953
Low Grown	11,779,008	11,072,286	44,173,165	27,394,758
Total		20,498,353	19,013,149	73,272,069	49,779,450

The increase of 50 percent in tea export is seen as a result of the increased production for the same period, Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi told Daily News Business.

He said due to the considerably high prices in the international market, the export revenue for tea has also increased.

A total value of Rs.10,033,891,354 was earned in tea export in January, this year. Russia and UAE have been the major buyers of Ceylon tea in January.

A total amount of Rs 12,174,265,465 was earned from tea exports in the month of February.

The total reported production of tea in Sri Lanka in March 2010 amounted to 20,498,363 kgs as against 19,013,149 kgs produced during the corresponding month last year. This shows a 7.8 percent increase, Sri Lanka Tea Board announced.

The total tea production during the first quarter of January to March 2010 amounted to 73,272,069 kgs as against 49,779,450 kgs produced during the corresponding period last year which shows a 47.2 percent increase.

All the categories of tea including high grown, medium grown, low grown and green tea have had an increase in March.