STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 33 Trustworthy advising ... Use our knowledge to your benefit. With our outstanding experience in tea buying and blend development, we offer you high-quality teas, sophisticated formulations and latest tea innovations. Independently. Personally. Since 1992. Get an impression of us: www.kktee.de The hastily introduced digital plat- form, developed by OKLO, has since become the backbone of transactions for the world's largest Orthodox black tea- producing country. Sri Lanka exported 242 million kilos of tea in 2023, almost all of which was auctioned. OKLO's platform automates all trans- action processes in the value chain from when the product leaves the factory to the final payment settlement. The end- to-end process is efficient, adaptable, and firmly favored by brokers but lacks the competitive allure and business ad- vantages of personal interaction. Open transactions have stood the test of time. Personal Connections Like a horse racing book, the catalog's list of teas reveals preferences in style and pedigree of the individual estates. Forbes & Walker Managing Director Yshan Fernando explained the selection criteria for qualifying and eventual selec- tion for ranking "were the distinctiveness of the unique characteristics of each agro-climatic region from which the teas originated, adherence to high standards and industry norms in the factories and processing, suitability for the interna- tional market and the ability to produce commercial quantities to fulfill the indus- try requirements." Veterans consider outcry superior for several reasons. Foremost is the vetting convert estate housing "line room areas" for tea workers into self-governing vil- lages "so that the line room concept will disappear." In an age where most of the tea is produced by smallholders, "no one lives next to a factory. They come from nearby," he said. "Our transformation from a feudal economy to a modern economy in the 19th and 20th centuries was driven by our plantation industry, by tea," Wick- remesinghe told the delegates. "So let me first tell you the first step. I don't think we need plantations. We need a thriving agro- business both of smallholders and large management companies, who will seek the highest earnings possible," he said. The realignment envisions ending the cultural paternalism, colonial-era sub- sidies, and social welfare mandates that large estates find burdensome. Enhanced Livelihood is an Urgent Concern Ceylon tea is at the apex of black tea- producing countries, exporting orthodox teas in bulk, averaging around $5 per kilo. According to the Export Development Board, tea provides essential foreign ex- change dollars, generating more than $1.3 billion in annual sales (about 9.3% of the country's annual export earnings and 1% of its GDP). Tea provides a livelihood to 2.4 million people, directly and indi- rectly employing approximately 600,000 workers. The nation's more than 468,000 smallholders grow 74% of the country's tea, according to the Sri Lanka Tea Board. of participants and the club-like personal interaction of peers. Brokers like that items are sold in se- quence in standardized lots. Offers are quickly revised and ascending, encour- aging a higher price. English tea auctions are unique because bidders make their bids openly, so all bidders know who makes the offer. Over time, a hierarchy evolves, rank- ing the oldest brokerages and the most innovative. Everyone learns the broker- ages that handle the most transactions, the brokers who manage the most lu- crative stable of clients and consistently achieve the highest bids. Caskets, which hold 500g of tea, were designed and crafted by Sirimevan de Silva of Timber Concepts, Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy Dan Bolton

• Cover