Bangladesh tea prices fall

Tea prices in Bangladesh fell at the weekly auction but strong demand for quality leaf capped a steeper decline, while sales rose despite a higher volume on offer. Bangladeshi tea fetched an average price of 238.28 taka ($2.80) per kg at the auction on Tuesday, compared with 240.35 taka at the previous sale, National Brokers said.
There was muted demand from buyers, but strong demand for quality leaf helped limit a steep drop in prices when supplies were higher than last week, a senior official with National Brokers said. Demand for tea in Bangladesh usually rises in winter. Around 12 percent of the 2.54 million kg offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong remained unsold. In the previous auction, 13.8 percent of the 2.36 million kg on offer was unsold. Bangladesh's tea production rose nearly 27 percent last year to a record 85 million kg, a harvest that was seen as big enough to make imports unnecessary.