Colombo, Sep 20 (PTI) Iraq has overtaken Turkey as the biggest buyer of Sri Lankan tea as the island nation recorded a 16 per cent increase in exports in the first eight months of 2021 as against the same period in 2020, Ceylon Tea Brokers said.

Turkey, Russia and the UAE are next in line when the total quantity of tea exported for the month of August 2021, including re-exports with imported tea, amounted to 25.48 million kilogrammes.

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The total export value for the period January to August 2021 shows an increase of over 16 per cent as against the same period in 2020.

“Equivalent USD exports earnings for the period January to August 2021 amounted to approximately USD 881.27 million as against USD 804.79 million in the same period last year showing an increase of approximately USD 76.48 million,” Ceylon Brokers, the first stand-alone tea broking company to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, said in a statement.

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The total export earnings shows an increase of Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR) 4.34 billion or over 20 per cent in August 2021 as against August 2020.

The brokers said the movement of tea exports has been affected for quite some time due to a freight issue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a consequence of the restrictions imposed on all imports by the government since the beginning of the pandemic last year, the number of vessels plying via Colombo has been reducing drastically,” it said in the statement.

This has led to a gradual reduction in the availability of vessel space for exports over the months and has now reached serious proportions, it said.

The situation has created a lot of uncertainty among exporters on securing vessel space for uninterrupted movement of tea exports.

Freight rates have risen sharply due to this and also caused a severe shortage of empty containers.

Exporters are at the mercy of shipping lines for rates and space, placing them in an awkward situation, the brokers said.

Sri Lanka continues to see a surge in the number of coronavirus cases, which as on Monday stood at 504,491 infections and 12,125 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The pandemic has severely dented the economy of the island nation, which depended on tourism and exports of products such as tea for revenue.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)