Tea prices up sharply at North and South India auction centres in 2024’s last sale

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Kolkata

Tea prices continue to be buoyant with rates rising sharply at both North and South India auction centres for orthodox and CTC varieties in the last sale in 2024 compared with 2023.

In the last auctions held for 2024, the average price of orthodox leaf at auction centres in Guwahati, Kolkata, Kochi and Coonoor was ₹2,36.70, ₹2,45.14, ₹198.19 and ₹152.91 per kg, respectively. They were up by 2.5 per cent, 26.5 per cent, 27.4 per cent and 32.6 per cent year-on-year against ₹230.85, ₹193.75, ₹155.55 and ₹115.34 per kg a year ago, per data from Tea Board and NSEIT.

For CTC leaf, the average price at auction centres in Guwahati, Kolkata, Siliguri, Kochi and Coonoor held in the last sale for the year rose 9 per cent, 10 per cent, 7.2 per cent, 34 per cent and 32.9 per cent, y-o-y, respectively, to ₹164.97, ₹185.05, ₹159.29, ₹126.57 and ₹125.30 per kg.

The last sales of 2024 were the Sale No. 52 held in Kolkata, Siliguri, Guwahati and Coonoor last week, and Sale No. 54 in Kochi which was held this week.

Darjeeling prices soar

Interestingly, in Sale No. 52 at the Kolkata auction centre the average price of Darjeeling leaf rose 45.86 per cent at ₹311.77 per kg against ₹213.75 per kg in 2023.

“Auction prices for orthodox, CTC and dust varieties across all centres were better than 2023 because crop was lower this time,” said Calcutta Tea Traders Association secretary Kalyan Sundaram.

Notably, India produced around 1255.39 million kg of tea in the January-November period of 2024 as compared to around 1309.27 million kg output during the first 11 months of 2023. The production fell due to erratic weather conditions coupled with early annual closure of gardens.