• SLTB reports 1.5 million kg decrease in local tea production during Q1 ’24
• Production decline due to adverse weather, soaring fertiliser prices: SLTB Chairman 
• Smallholder farmers struggle to purchase fertiliser due to cost constraints
• Govt.’s Rs. 2,000 discount scheme for fertiliser yet to have desired impact

Adverse weather conditions together with high fertiliser prices have resulted in local tea production falling by around 1.5 million kg Year-on-Year (YoY) during the first quarter of this year in comparison to the equivalent period in 2023, the Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) reveals. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, SLTB Chairman Niraj de Mel revealed that the slight YoY gains in local tea production volumes during January and February had been eliminated during March, with the latter seeing tea production fall by nearly 2.5 million kg YoY compared to March 2023 due to adverse weather conditions and high fertiliser prices. 

Consequently, local tea production volumes during the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 1.5 million kg compared to last year.

Elaborating further, de Mel revealed that the application of fertiliser continued to remain below optimum levels because smallholder tea farmers had been unable to purchase the required levels of fertiliser on account of high prices, although large plantation companies had performed well since last year. 

“This is why the new scheme of providing a discount of Rs. 2,000 for fertiliser was introduced by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera through Government-owned fertiliser companies. While this scheme has commenced, it hasn’t taken off to the extent we require.”  

“The crops were weakened by the ban on chemical fertilisers. If the required nourishment is withheld, crops will take a longer period to grow. Situations such as the drought in March did not help and only set things back further,” he stated.

De Mel noted that this decrease in local tea production volumes had, to an extent, helped offset the impact of the strengthening Sri Lankan Rupee on the price of tea sold at the auction.

“The prices of some tea varieties have increased while some have not, mainly because of the appreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee. Therefore, the ability to pay in rupees at the tea auction has been restricted. However, the price of tea shouldn’t have gone up at all. 

“Unfortunately, due to the low availability of tea at the auction given low production volumes, some tea varieties have seen a price increase on account of high demand. This price increase isn’t observed across the board. The Iranian varieties of tea are higher in price and so are some low-grown varieties of tea, but this increase isn’t witnessed across the board,” he said.