Tea Sippers

For the first time, in 2007, the Sri Lankan Tea Export Trade moved past the $1billion in value mark. This despite what some would say was a trying year. First there was a strike (work stoppage) on plantations by labor unions at the beginning of the year which happened about the same time as a severe drought. Of course, the drought impacted the production of tea leaves.

However, even with the drought and strike, there was only a 2% drop in the amount of tea produced which is amazing given the state of affairs. Tea exports were also down 5.5% over the previous year which just goes to show that the price of tea must be going up for the value to have gone up.

What I think is more interesting than the value of tea exports going over the one billion dollar mark is that Kenya beat out Sri Lanka as the third larest producer and became the largest exporter of tea over Sri Lanka as well in 2007. However, Sri Lanka made more money than Kenya did which the source put down to the “eminence of the Colombo Tea Auction as the largest single origin tea auction in the world.”

Source: http://www.island.lk/2008/03/01/business3.html