DHAKA: Tea prices in Bangladesh fell at a weekly auction for a second straight session on tepid demand from local buyers despite lower volumes on offer.
Bangladeshi tea fetched an average of 279.29 taka ($2.7) per kg at the auction in the port city of Chittagong which took place on Tuesday. That was down from an average price of 281.59 taka at the previous sale.
Except for quality leaf, there was subdued interest from local buyers, despite supplies were lower than the previous week, an official at National Brokers said.
About 4.7 percent of the 2.29 million kg offered in the auction was left unsold. At the previous auction, around 2.34 million kg was offered, of which 6.4 percent went unsold.
Bangladesh's tea production dropped to nearly 79 million kg in 2017 from a record 85 million kg the previous year, which officials attributed to excessive rainfall.
The South Asian country was the world's fifth-largest tea exporter in the 1990s, but is now a net importer due to a surge in domestic consumption in line with economic growth.
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