Price of tea set to rise warns DTTC official

The price of tea is set to rise after major tea-producing countries were hit by droughts, an official of Dubai Tea Trading Centre has said.

Sanjay Sethi, director of Dubai Trading Centre, told the Peninsula that during the first half of the year the total tea crops of India, Sri Lanka and Kenya have fallen by 20 percent, compared to the same period the year previous.

He said the overall shortage crop shortage in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya is estimated to be over 85 million kg.

“Due to drought in the three largest black tea-producing countries earlier this year, there has been a considerable loss in crop resulting to shortage in supply,” Sethi told the paper.

Tea prices surged in June and look set to remain strong in the months to come, Sethi said.

Sales of tea have been relatively immune to the impact of the global financial crisis, the paper reported, and many tea producing countries are struggling to meet market demand.

Indian tea production fell to 62,590 tonnes in April, down 22 percent on the same month in 2008.

While, the Tea Board of Kenya said the country’s tea production fell to 139,283 tonnes in the first half of 2009, down by 11.5 percent from the same period the previous year.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM