April 3, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 30, 1424

COLOMBO, April 2: Sri Lanka tea prices dipped at the latest auction on Wednesday, with nearly 30 per cent of low-grown teas going unsold because of disruptions to shipping routes caused by the war in Iraq.

The anticipated gross sales average was Rs130 ($1.34) per kg, compared to $132.10 last week, Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said in a statement, revising last week’s figure down Rs10 from its initial estimate of Rs142.

We did see more activity today, compared to last week’s sale, but the tippy teas are still really the worst hit, said Gimantha Jayasinghe, a broker at Forbes and Walker.—Reuters