Erratic weather, poor quality keep tea auction prices subdued

Average March auction price down 14% in the north, up 6% in southern auction houses

After a healthy start to tea auctions this year, northern and southern India have two different tales to narrate.

While the average auction prices in the country’s northern auction centres fell by 14.43 per cent to Rs 108.55 a kilo in March as compared to January 2017, the prices in the southern auction centres were up 6.1 per cent to Rs 119.12 a kilo. However, in April, prices rebounded in the northern auction by 25.3 per cent at Rs 136.04 a kilo (when compared to March 2017), while prices dropped in the south by 5.1 per cent at Rs