Sri Lanka’s tea exports have faced massive setbacks due to the crisis situations in Russia and the Middle East.

After declining for eight consecutive months, during May 2015 Sri Lanka’s tea exports have fallen by 12.1 per cent as compared to May 2014 reveals the latest data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Compared to May 2014, Sri Lanka’s tea exports to Russia and the Middle East during May 2015 have declined by 19.2 per cent and 9.7 per cent respectively.

While Russia’s economic crisis has badly hit Sri Lanka’s low grown tea industry, the producers say low grown tea prices have drastically dropped due to these reasons.

During the previous month alone the Russian Ruble depreciated by around 30 per cent as against the US dollar, while the international rating agency Standard & Poors has said there are more likelihoods of the Ruble further depreciating in the future.

Sri Lanka exports some 300 metric tonnes of tea annually and around 200 million tonnes are low grown tea.

Russia annually buys around 40 million tonnes of Sri Lanka’s low grown tea and is the most prominent country to do so. This amount has fallen due to Russia’s economic crisis.