Coonoor tea auction to witness year's highest volume

Buoyed by the recent rains which proved beneficial to the volume and quality of the crop, the volume of tea offered for sale at the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) is steadily increasing.

The auction which is scheduled to be held on May 12 "� 13, 2006, will witness the highest volume of tea to be offered for sale this year. A total offering of around 11.29 lakh kg has been catalogued for the forthcoming auction at CTTA. Of this, about 7.7 lakh kg belongs to the leaf category and the remaining 3.59 lakh kg to the dust category.

This is considered the highest volume for the year at the CTTA. Also, this is the fourth time that the volume has crossed the 10 lakh-mark this year.

The previous high this year was 10.87 lakh kg offered on May 5, and 10.42 lakh kg was offered on January 12, followed by 10.07 lakh kg offered on March 17, 2006.

For the past six weeks, there has been a steady increase in the volume owing to the rains that have led to a rise in production, with the peak season or the rush period to be witnessed in May and June.

Similarly, the prices are also showing an upward trend, especially after the visit of Pakistani delegates who indicated doubling of imports to 20 million kg this year.

Quotations held by the brokers indicate that the prices of brighter liquoring grades, that are most preferred by the Pakistan buyers, hover around Rs 60 "� 70 per kg, an increase of around Rs 5 per kg.

Auctioneering sources told Business Standard that this trend is likely to continue for the next few weeks also, may be till the end of June, when the production of the crop reaches the final stage.