The prices at the Colombo tea auctions again tumbled in the face of the decline in demand from Sri Lanka’s tea markets in Russia and the Middle East, said tea broking companies.

Depreciation of Russia’s Ruble and the crises in the Middle East has adversely affected the global tea market.

In the face the economic crises in Sri Lanka’s main tea buyers Russia and the Middle East Sri Lanka’s tea exports fell for the eleventh consecutive month during last June.

Compared to same period last year, Sri Lanka’s tea exports to Russia have declined by 29 per cent while the exports to the Middle East have declined by 24 per cent.

Sri Lanka’s overall tea exports during last June has declined accordingly, says latest data released by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The economic crisis in Russia had adversely affected Sri Lanka’s low grown tea industry and the producers say that hence low grow tea prices has fallen drastically.

While Sri Lanka annually exports around 300 metric tons of tea, some 200 metric tons is low grown tea.

Russia annually buys around 40 million metric tons of low grown tea, thus becoming the leading buyer of Sri Lanka’s low grown tea.

Russian purchase of Sri Lanka’s tea has declined due to its economic crisis.