Tea prices at the Kolkata auction centre rose close to 33 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) this week on the back of a lesser quantity of tea available.
Average price realised at the Kolkata auction centre held on February 18 stood at ₹168.01 per kg compared with ₹126.51 a year ago, according to data from Tea Board and NSEIT.
While average Darjeeling leaf price soared by around 37 per cent y-o-y at ₹231.38 per kg against ₹169.22, average orthodox leaf price increased by close to 13 per cent y-o-y at ₹201.86 per kg during the auction this week.
The average price of CTC leaf was up 31.69 per cent y-o-y at ₹167.04 during auction held on Tuesday, while average price of CTC dust rose 23.29 per cent y-o-y at ₹148.29 per kg, per the data.
2024 output down
“The average price realised at the Kolkata auction centre in Sale No.8 (held on February 18) this year was higher compared to last year as this year there was lesser tea available. All the teas came for the auction were from last year’s production. Production at north India tea gardens stopped after November 30, 2024, according to Tea Board guideline. But in December, 2023, there was some tea production,” Calcutta Tea Traders Association secretary Kalyan Sundaram told businessline.
Sale Nos. 9, 10 and 11 at the Kolkata auction centre have been dropped because of very low fresh arrivals of tea as there was no tea production at North India gardens in January this year. The country’s total tea production in 2024 stood at 1284.78 million kgs (mkg) — down from 1393.66 mkg in 2023.
Tea prices were buoyant, too, in the last sale in 2024 compared with 2023 as realisation rose sharply at both North and South India auction centres for both orthodox and CTC varieties, on the back of fall in productions.