March exports down

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s tea export volumes in March fell to the lowest monthly volume since in April 2009.

In March, the country exported only 13.8 M/kgs of teas recording a decrease of 47.7 percent YOY or 12.6 M/kgs.

“This is mainly due to the disruption to work during the latter half of the month on account of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Forbes and Walker reasoned.

Further, drought has also impacted the tea output significantly. The Regional Plantation Companies (RPCS) have experienced nearly 40 percent drop in their output due to the drought.

However, with showers returning, the industry expects that the output will recover by May this year. Similarly, the revenue too declined by Rs. 10.9 billion in the month compared with March 2019.

The cumulative tea exports also declined by 14.1 M/kgs to 59.5 M/kgs during the first three months of the year compared to the corresponding period of last year. “The main categories of exports on a cumulative basis too show a decrease compared to the corresponding period of 2019.

“Meanwhile, total revenue of Rs.49.2 billion for January-march 2020 shows a deficit of Rs.13.2 billion vis-à-vis Rs.62.4 billion of January-march 2019, resulting in the FOB value for the period January-march 2020 of Rs.826.39 declining Rs.21.18 from Rs.847.57 of Januarymarch 2019,” Forbes and Walker elaborated.

Iraq has secured the top position followed by Turkey and Russia and Iran, whilst Azerbaijan, Chile, Saudi Arabia, China and Syria are the other noteworthy importers during the period under review. During the period, Ukraine has shown a growth in imports; however, Jordan, UAE and Germany have shown decreases in imports compared to the corresponding period of 2019.