Demand from Tata Tea, AVT, Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation and upcountry buyers remained subdued at the Kochi dust tea auction where HUL remained selective.
Fair amount of activity by loose tea traders and better export enquiry helped to sustain prices. However, quotes on high priced teas were irregular while prices of medium and plain teas remained barely steady to easier. Orthodox grades remained steady where bulk offerings were absorbed by exporters. There were 9,59,500 kg of dust tea on offer at the auction.
There was 3.19 lakh kg of leaf tea on offer at the Kochi auction. Good demand continued for fannings, both from exporters as well as domestic tea bag manufacturers.
Exporters to the CIS countries, Tunisia and Iraq were quite active.
Internal buyers also participated with vigour at the auction. Nilgiri whole leaf grades and broken grades were fully firm to dearer.
Fanning remained strong while medium bolder broken grades quoted higher.
Better export enquiry was noticed for smaller broken grades and fannings.
Top Prices
At the dust auction, teas from Pasuparai estates fetched most of the glory. Pasuparai SFD fetched the top price at Rs 136 followed by Pasuparai FD at Rs 129, Pasuparai GD at Rs 124, Pasuparai SD and Chinnar SFD at Rs 122. At the leaf auction, Havukal BOPF fetched the top price at Rs 190 followed by Glendale BOPFS at Rs 180, Chamraj FP at Rs 179 and Chamraj FPS at Rs 177.
Source : Business Line