The income of tea smallholders has rapidly increased due to the increase of tea prices from 110 to Rs 250.
The total revenue of the Tea Auction as at April 6 this year was Rs.73.13 bn and 86.23 million kilos of tea had been auctioned, said Pavithra Peiris, Director of the Sri Lanka Tea Board.
The price of a kilo of tea has more than doubled at the Tea Auction, up from Rs. 870 a kilo earlier to Rs.1,300 today, the director said.
The average auction price of a kilo of tea was Rs.604 in April last year and Rs.871 in April this year.
At the Tea Auction, tea is priced at 68 percent for the producer and 32 percent for the tea factory owner, he said.
The director said the reason for this situation is the lack of supply relative to demand and the depreciation of the rupee.
However, due to the increase in fertilizer prices and transport costs, tea growers are not getting much profit and the harvest has been reduced due to the shortage of fertilizer, he said.
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