The rising trend witnessed over a fortnight in the offer for the auctions of Coonoor Tea Trade Association continues for sale 39 to be held on Thursday and Friday.
A volume of 27.08 lakh kg has been catalogued this sale which is as much as 2.24 lakh kg more than the offer for last week’s auction.
Of the 27.08 lakh kg offered, as much as 25.96 lakh kg belongs to CTC variety and only 1.12 lakh kg, Orthodox variety. In the leaf counter, only 68,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 20.33 lakh kg, CTC. Among the dusts, only 44,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 5.63 lakh kg, CTC. In all, 21.01 lakh kg belongs to Leaf grades and 6.07 lakh kg, Dust grades.
Lakshmi Estate topped the entire auctions Last week when its Pekoe Dust grade, auctioned by Paramount Tea Marketing Pvt Ltd, was bought by Nilgiri Green and Co for ₹301 a kg. This was the only grade which crossed ₹300/kg mark among all the teas, CTC or orthodox, from corporate or bought leaf factories. In the CTC leaf tea auctions, Homedale Estate’s Broken Orange Pekoe grade, auctioned by Global Tea Brokers, topped at ₹295 a kg. These two grades fetched the highest prices in this auction beating the prices of even orthodox teas from corporate factories. Among other CTC teas, Pinewood Estate got ₹265, Darmona Estate ₹261 and Vigneshwar Estate ₹245.
Quotations with the brokers indicated ₹158-169 a kg for plain Leaf grades and ₹210- 245 for the best grades. For plain Dust grades, they ranged ₹160-175 and for the best grades, ₹206-234.