Sri Lankan tea exports earnings fell for the fourth straight month in April from a year ago with value-added teas also showing a drop as troubles in key markets battered the industry.

Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said tea exports fell by 400,000 kilos to 22.9 million kilos in April 2015 compared with the same month in 2014.

Although bulk teas grew, packeted teas remained static while tea bags fell.

Total tea export earnings fell by 1.77 billion rupees to 13.5 billion rupees in April 2015 from the year before.

Cumulative exports too for the period January – April 2015 showed a decline, down by 2.4 million kilos to 96.1 million kilos, the brokers said.

“Here again bulk teas have shown a growth year-on-year whilst packeted tea and tea bags show a decrease compared to the same period of 2014,” they said.

Total tea export revenue too fell by alost eight billion rupees to 57.9 billion rupees during January – April 2015 compared to the same period of 2014.

Tea exports have been hit hard by the devaluation of the rouble in Russia and political troubles in the Middle East, both key markets.
(Economy Next)