Tea prices in Bangladesh dipped more than 6 percent at a weekly auction on Tuesday, dragged down by inferior quality leaf, and sales also dropped despite lower supplies. Bangladeshi tea fetched an average of 118.66 taka ($1.6) per kg at the auction, down from 126.56 taka at the previous sale, the National Brokers said in a market report.
Buyers showed little interest in the end-of-season leaf that tends to be of inferior quality, leaving a huge quantity unsold despite a drop in supplies, said a senior official of the National Brokers. Competitive prices, however, attracted buyers from Pakistan, the official added. About 35.5 percent of the 1.86 million kg offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong was left unsold. In the previous auction, about 31 percent of the 1.9 million kg on offer remained unsold. Bangladesh's tea production in 2016 is expected to have risen to a record 80 million kg from 66 million a year earlier, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said.
Published under arrangements with Reuters.
No content from Business Recorder shall be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Business Recorder shall not be responsible or held liable for any error of fact, opinion or recommendation and also for any loss, financial or otherwise, resulting from business or trade or speculation conducted, or investments made, on the basis of the information posted here. Nor shall Business Recorder be held liable for any actions taken in consequence." >Copyright Reuters, 2017