The Hindu Business Line : Arrivals continue to be firm at Kochi tea auction

Arrivals continued to be firm at the Kochi Tea Auction at 12,66,000 kg at the dust auction and 3,31,000 kg at the leaf auction. Sources said that there was no dip in arrivals due to the incessant rains and floods in Nilgiris during the last month and that further dips could be expected towards the end of the month. Orthodox leaf in which Nilgiris has a strong presence was steady at 2,47,500m kg.

Good liquoring grades were steady to firm at the dust auction, while prices of medium grades eased. Tata Tea and HUL remained selective at the auction while AVT and Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation remained active. Kerala tea traders were fairly active in finer grades, upcountry buyers remained selective and exporters remained less active. There were several withdrawals from orthodox dust auction.

Leaf auction

High-grown whole leaf grades and bolder broken grades were firm to dearer while smaller broken were irregular to easy. Fannings appreciated in value while others remained barely steady.

Medium bolder broken grades were dearer and there were withdrawals of smaller broken grades as prices fell. At the CTC leaf auction broken grades were absorbed by internal buyers while fannings were sought by exporters and upcountry buyers. Exporters to CIS countries remained active. Buyers for Iraq and Tunisia remained selective.

Top Prices

Curzon BOPD fetched the top price at Rs 158, followed by Pasuparai SFD at Rs 138, Pasuparai FD at Rs 124 and Pasuparai RD at Rs 116 at the dust auction.

At the leaf auction Glendale FPS fetched the top price at Rs 180 followed by Chamraj FPS at Rs 177, Chamraj FOP at Rs 174 and Sutton GROP at Rs 168.