Tea production hits decade low as September output slides

Sri Lanka’s tea production fell 3.28 percent in the first nine months of 2026 to its lowest January-September level since at least 2016, as the declines across all three growing elevations outweighed a rise in the green tea output.

The cumulative production totalled 192.62 million kilogrammes, down 6.54 million kilogrammes from 199.16 million kilogrammes a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Forbes & Walker Research.

The outturn was below the previous January-September low of 192.77 million kilogrammes recorded in 2022, within the report’s 2016-2025 comparison period. Production was also 4.25 million kilogrammes or 2.16 percent below the corresponding period of 2024.

The nine-month decline followed an 8.58 percent year-on-year contraction in September, when the output fell to 20.28 million kilogrammes, from 22.18 million kilogrammes. A recovery in the Low Grown production was insufficient to offset the sharp falls in the High and Medium Grown teas.

The High Grown output dropped 29.79 percent in September to 3.40 million kilogrammes, below every September reading in the preceding decade. The previous low in that comparison period was 3.81 million kilogrammes in 2019.The Medium Grown production fell 26.33 percent to 3.00 million kilogrammes.

The Orthodox Medium Grown output, a component of that total, stood at 2.28 million kilogrammes, also below every September reading during 2016-2025.

The Low Grown production rose 4.77 percent to 13.69 million kilogrammes, an increase of about 623,000 kilogrammes from a year earlier. The monthly green tea output declined 5.47 percent to about 178,000 kilogrammes.

For the first nine months, the Medium Grown teas recorded the steepest percentage decline among the three elevations, with the production falling 8.50 percent to 32.75 million kilogrammes.

The Low Grown output, which accounted for more than 60 percent of total production, declined 1.89 percent to 117.16 million kilogrammes. The High Grown production fell 3.22 percent to 40.79 million kilogrammes, below all the corresponding nine-month totals in the report’s preceding decade of data.

Green tea was the only category to record a cumulative growth, rising 6.75 percent to 1.92 million kilogrammes.Compared with September 2024, the total monthly output was down 16.86 percent or 4.11 million kilogrammes. The report did not identify the reasons for the production declines.