Tea prices rose at the weekly auction held at Chittagong Tuesday, snapping a four-week run of falls, on strong demand from local buyers, brokers said.
Tea prices dropped sharply in the last marketing season on poor demand from local buyers because of damage to business sentiment caused by renewed political unrest early this year that left more than 120 people dead and disrupted supplies.
Tea fetched an average Tk 198.06 ($2.5) per kg at the auction on Tuesday, the ninth of the new marketing season, compared with 196.04 taka at the previous sale, an executive with National Brokers said.
"Demand was strong and buyers were ready to pay a premium," he said, adding that the sales volume also rose from last week.
About 1.23 million kg was offered at the sole auction centre in Chittagong, of which nearly 4 percent was unsold. In the previous auction, about 11 percent of the 1.23 million kg Off ered was unsold. The national budget for the 2015/16 fiscal year unveiled early this month raised regulatory duty on tea imports by five per cent to discourage overseas buying.
The country, however, has moved from being a net exporter to a net importer of tea because of rising consumption.
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