Sri Lanka's January-February tea output down

Sri Lanka's year-on-year tea production fell 18 percent in the first two months of 2011 owing to abnormally heavy monsoon rains that slammed the Indian Ocean island, the state-run tea board said on Monday. February's output fell 7.9 percent to 21.7 million kg from 23.5 million kg in the same month last year, the data showed.
Floods across Sri Lanka in January and February hit overall agricultural production, with at least a third of the staple rice crop being destroyed and damage to other crops piling up and sending food prices skyrocketing. Tea board officials have said the rains hit the regular plucking and pruning cycles. The Sri Lanka Tea Board has forecast 2011's output to be more than the last year's record 329.4 million kg.