STiR coffee and tea magazine

32 STiR coffee and tea | 2024 Issue 5 (October / November) A Tea outcry auctions engender a camaraderie in business that mirrors tea's social power to connect and sustain relationships. In July, Sri Lanka's tea brokers raised SLR 46 million (about $150,000) for the Colombo Tea Traders' Charity Trust, commemorating the 130th anniversary of the Colombo Tea Traders' Association. Affection for the centuries-old tradition was evident in the hall, crowded with several hun- dred buyers. The pageantry is orderly and un- derstated, like its white shirt-and-tie dress code. Tea auctions are not as regimented as legislative deliberations nor as ornate as matriculation cer- emonies in higher education, but a hierarchy is evident, and quaint customs prevail. Bidders seated six rows deep in the cav- ernous BMICH Jasmine Hall vied for 39 lots of award-winning Ceylon tea symbolically displayed in front of the auctioneers in ornate wooden chests known as tea caskets. The occasion was the Colombo International Tea Convention, a joint initiative of the Sri Lanka Tea Board and the Colombo Tea Traders' As- sociation. The auction was the first CTTA char- ity auction since 2017 and one of the few outcry events since April 4, 2020, when the modern digital tea auction went live. The pandemic accel- erated plans to replace the twice-weekly outcry auctions at the old Chamber of Commerce Hall. sweeping transformation of Sri Lanka's tea industry is underway. Initiatives include land and labor reforms, developing a national sus- tainability standard, and implementing the principles of regenerative agriculture to achieve zero-carbon emissions to help mitigate the growing threat brought by climate change. In remarks during the opening session of the Colombo International Tea Convention in July, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the $1.3 billion tea industry must adhere to modern agro-business principles. Wick- remesinghe described a competitive, export-oriented, digital economy with stable macroeconomic balances, sustainable debt, modernized agriculture, and inclusive growth. He said the tea industry is critical to the success of a national policy on economic transformation approved by Parliament to meet loan requirements dictated by the International Monetary Fund. "The Economic Transforma- tion Bill's objectives are to ensure a high standard of living for all citizens, prevent economic crises, and promote rapid development through public and private economic activities," writes the Financial Times. The collapse of the country's tourism industry during the pandemic led to a foreign debt financial crisis that undermined a once-healthy economy, driv- ing one in four of the country's workers into poverty. In May, the government ordered a 70% wage increase for tea workers from SRs 1000 to 1,700 rupees per day (about $5.66). The new day rate boosts the fortunes of 615,000 work- ers and will help offset inflation, which reached a high of 67% in September 2022, raising food prices by as much as 90%. "We have to remember that those who worked in the plantations are some of the people who are at the worst end of the bankruptcy in the country," he said. During the convention, Wickremesinghe announced land reform to Sri Lanka Realigns Its Tea Industry By Dan Bolton Ganaka Herath, managing partner at McKinsey & Co. Sri Lanka discussed how global trends are reshaping the tea industry at the Colombo International Tea Convention in July. Photo courtesy Dan Bolton The Enduring Allure of Outcry Auctions Eight brokerages presented catalogs at the sale. Photo courtesy Dan Bolton By Dan Bolton

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