Colombo tea auction returns to normal

The Colombo tea auction is expected to return to normal on Tuesday/Wednesday with usual Russian demand after Russian authorities agreed to lift the temporary ban on Sri Lankan tea imports.

“The market should normalise with this good news,” noted Anil Cooke, veteran tea broker and Managing Director/CEO at Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC. “On the other hand, rightly or wrongly, this is a wake-up call to step up standards and quality.”

Russian authorities suspended the import of agriculture products from Sri Lanka effective from December 18 after the discovery of the live Khapra beetle in the packaging of the consignment of tea from Sri Lanka.

As the tea trade scrambled to overcome a major crisis since Russia is Sri Lanka’s second largest tea buyer, a delegation led by Sri Lanka Tea Board chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda met with Russian officials on December 25 and pledged to improve standards and quarantine processes. Based on these assurances, the lifting of the ban from December 31 was announced by the authorities there.

A prolonged ban would have had a severe impact on auction prices as Russia imports 30 to 35 million kg annually from Sri Lanka and is the country’s second largest buyer.

In a statement, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) commended the swift and effective action taken by the Ministry of Plantation Industries, the Sri Lanka Tea Board, and all other state and diplomatic officials that played a role in helping lift the temporary ban.

“While the limited disruption to exports of Sri Lankan tea to such an important market as the Russian Federation is unfortunate, we hope that this incident will serve as further impetus for the continuing improvement of phytosanitary surveillance and quarantine processes within the domestic supply chain,” the PA said.