Sri Lanka's tea production in March rose 57.9 percent from a year earlier due to a low base effect after bad weather hit production in the same month last year, the state-run tea board said on Tuesday. Tea output in March jumped to 33.2 million kg against 21.1 million in the same month last year. Output in the first quarter edged up 3 percent to 76.24 million kg from 74.02 million in the same period last year.
"Last year in March we had some weather effects on the production," H.D. Hemarathne, director general of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, told Reuters. He said production had recovered despite heavy rains in first two months of this year, thanks to better weather in March. Hemarathne expects full-year tea output to be in line with 2010 tea production, which rose 13.1 percent to a record 329.4 million kg.
The Tea Board hopes revenue from Sri Lanka's No 1 agricultural export crop will rise to a record high of more than$1.5 billion this year, from $1.4 billion in 2010. Sri Lanka's annual earnings from tea exports rose 16.1 percent last year and 28.3 percent in January, the central bank's latest data showed. Tea is one of the $50 billion economy's main foreign currency earners, along with remittances, garment exports and tourism.
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