Price of Tea from Bangladesh Drops

Bangladesh Tea National Brokers Limited has stated that the price of Bangladesh tea has fallen by roughly $0.03 in one week, as Reuters reports. Last week’s auction saw tea prices at 279.91 taka ($3.58) per kilogram while Tuesday’s tea auction prices were at 277.74 taka ($3.56) per kilogram. Additionally, 25.40% of the tea at auction went unsold, a 5% growth since the previous auction. Annually, Bangladesh produces 60 million kilograms of tea, despite an estimated demand of 56 million kilograms. However, annual consumption of tea in Bangladesh is rising by 4.5 % and the economy is growing slowly. In January of 2012, a 25% tax on imported tea was created by the tax authority of Bangladesh in order to boost the tea industry locally. The tea of Bangladesh has been the subject of much criticism in the past, having been marked as a poor quality tea. Of the auction on Tuesday, National Brokers Limited stated in its market report that, “There was a little more interest from the blenders this week but loose tea buyers were quiet." SOURCE: Reuters