Sri Lanka’s tea exports recorded the lowest-ever volume of shipments and sharp dip in value. COVID-19 mitigation measures have disrupted the trade.
Tea exports in March amounted to 13.8 million kilos, the lowest ever. This was worse than the previous lowest of 14 million kilos shipped in April 2009.
Compared with the previous year earlier, March 2020 export volume was down by 47.7 per cent or 12.6 million kilos.
“This (decline) is mainly due to the disruption to work during the latter half of the month on account of the COVID-19 pandemic,” a Tea Broker said.
All the different categories of exports suffered a significant decrease compared to the corresponding period of 2019.