History of Ceylon Tea

Sri Lanka’s tea exports in the first half of the year fell by Rs 15.8 billion (12.40 per cent) Year-on-Year (YoY) to Rs 106 billion, impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown and the drought, data from Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers released on Wednesday (22) showed. Correspondingly, tea export volumes in the review period declined by 21.1 million kg (14. 54 per cent) to 124 million kg, and production by 29.8 million kg (18.77 per cent) to 129 million kg. In related developments, the total Free-on-Board (FoB value) in US dollar terms fell by eight US cents (1.69 per cent) to US$ 4.73 per kg in the review period, Forbes further said.

Iraq emerged as the top importer of Sri Lankan Tea for the period January-June 2020, followed by Turkey and Russia. Other noteworthy importers in descending order were Iran, Azerbaijan and China. The other top importers of Sri Lanka tea in the review period were Chile, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE,  Libya, Germany, Japan, the USA, Jordan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Israel and Egypt, in descending order.

Tea, according to Central Bank of Sri Lanka, was the island’s fourth-highest foreign exchange earner last year.