March 6, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 2, 1424

COLOMBO, March 5: Sri Lanka tea prices were mixed at the latest auction on Wednesday as low growns dipped due to fears of a war in Iraq while better quality high growns edged up.

The anticipated gross sales average was 141 rupees per kg, compared with 141.79 rupees last week, Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said in a statement.

Forbes said there was demand for high grown teas from Britain, Japan and Europe.

“Better teas kept getting its price, but the below best and the poorer types were fairly irregular,” said Gimantha Jayasinghe at Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers.

Jayasinghe said the average price of low growns, that are shipped mainly to the Middle East, had dipped about 13 per cent when compared to prices in early 2002.

“This is fairly significant,” Jayasinghe said, adding fears that the teas could not be shipped through the Middle East was one of the reasons for weaker demand for low growns.

Secondary low-growns fell about five rupees on average.

Best pekoes from the low-grown regions fell between two to four rupees at the start of the auction, and lost a further three rupees towards the end of the sale.

Brokers said 6.2 million kg of tea were on offer this week, and 6.4 million will go on sale next week.—Reuters