Heavy rain may affect tea crop- JKL

The recent heavy rains in the tea growing areas may not lead to a recovery in the tea production in the short term, affected by the drought, the commodity broker, John Keells Limited (JKL) said.

“It has been an extremely cold and wet week on the Plantations. Light rain that fell at the start of the week, was quickly followed by a deluge over the week-end. If the dry weather that we have experienced in 2012 is partly to be blamed for the crop shortfall, the heavy rainfall that we are witnessing now is unlikely to give way to record crops in the near future,” JKL noted.

The broking firm further said that the overcast and high rain fall in the plantation districts, particularly in the High Grown Sector will hinder growth which in turn will have an impact on crop intakes.

“However, every storm cloud has a silver lining and one area which has benefited immensely from these down pours have been the rise in the water levels of the Hydro Power reservoirs in the Central hills and depleted irrigation tanks in the North Western, North Central and Eastern provinces. It is reported that with the recent heavy rains some of them have already reached spill level which will boost Hydro Power generation and supply much needed water for Agricultural and drinking purposes in the dry zone which has been reeling under the impact of the severe drought,” JKL stated.

On account of better weather for growth in September, Sri Lanka’s crop for the month of 26.8 Mkgs is 2.8 Mkgs above the corresponding month of 2012. It is the highest crop achieved for a September with the previous best of 26.3 Mkgs achieved in 2008. Whilst all three elevations have made positive contributions, the major contribution has come from the Low Grown Sector with a 13% increase over last year. The September 2012 crop has taken a fair slice off the to-date deficit which is now down to 1.40 % of last year.

On the Global front, North Indian crop appears to be heading towards a larger deficit due to some areas of Upper Assam having suffered crop losses of 25 – 30% in September with October crop too not looking too healthy. South Indian Crop appears to be on a firmer footing with weather conditions being far more conducive for growth. As for Kenya, production appears to be on a satisfactory note with good weather prevailing on the plantations except for some parts of the Western district which is recovering from hail damage. Production from Vietnam and China is expected to slow down in the last quarter of the year due to winter weather setting in.