Tea prices edge up at weekly auction

Tea prices in Bangladesh edged higher at the weekly auction on Tuesday amid strong demand for quality grade despite higher supplies.

Bangladeshi tea fetched an average Tk 191.54 ($2.44) per kg at the 32nd auction of the current marketing season, compared with Tk 191.17 in the previous sale, an executive with National Brokers said.

About 2.03 million kg were offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong, of which 15.53 percent went unsold. In the previous auction, about 11.48 percent of the 2.01 million kg offered was unsold.

There was strong demand from local buyers for quality tea, the executive said.

The national budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year that started in July raised the regulatory duty on tea imports by 5 percent to discourage overseas buying.   Tea prices fell sharply in the last marketing season on poor demand from local buyers, as business sentiment was hit by renewed political unrest early this year.

The country has moved from being a net exporter to a net importer of tea due to rising consumption.