Coonoor , the hill station known for its tea and coffee plantations is in the Nilgiris.
The tea estates in Coonoor are privately controlled gardens purchased by the Tata company. These tea plantations are a significant source of income for this region because this is what makes it one of the richest districts in India.
The scenic beauties of Coonoor along with the exfoliating sights and long lasting fragrances compels the visitors to visit Coonoor again and again .
Provisions are also made for restricting few entry places for the tourists and few are left open for the same.
But recently a falling trend has been observed in the volume scheduled for the auctions by the Coonoor Tea Trade Association over the past few weeks continued this week with the volume dropping at 17.05 lakh kg in the sale held recently.
Out of the 17.05 lakh kg supplied, equivalent to 15.89 lakh kg which belongs to the CTC variety and only 1.16 lakh kgs belonged to orthodox variety.
The proportion of orthodox teas remains to be low in both leaf and dust grades. In the leaf check, approximately 74,000 kg belongs to orthodox while 10.78 lakh kgs to CTC. Among the dusts, 42,000 kgs belonged to orthodox and 5.11 lakh kgs to CTC. In all, 11.52 lakh kgs belonged to Leaf grades and 5.53 lakh kgs to the ‘Dust grades.’
Quotations with the brokers was fixed from Rs.62 to Rs.72 a kg for the ‘Plain Leaf Grades ‘and Rs.104-124 for the best grades. The’ Plain Dust Grades’ ranged from Rs.66 to Rs.72 and the ‘Best Grades ‘priced Rs.100 to Rs.116.
Among the selling CTC teas, only Homedale Tea Factory entered the high-priced category of Rs.200/kg last week. The Orange Pekoe Small Grade,auctioned by the Global Tea Brokers, transcended the entire CTC market when Shreeji Traders bought it for Rs.269 per kg. Homedale Pekoe Dust grade, auctioned by the Global Tea Brokers, beat the CTC Dust market attracting Rs.258 per kg.