Russia’s economic crisis has caused heavy impacts on Sri Lanka’s low grown tea industry and tea manufacturer say that as a result low grown tea prices have fallen drastically.

In recent months the Russian Ruble has depreciated by some 30 per cent compared to the US dollar while the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has said there are possibilities of Russia’s credit ratings being lowered further.

Sri Lanka exports around 300 million metric tons of tea annually while some 200 million metric tons from this is low grown tea.

Around 40 per cent of this low grown tea is purchased by Russia.

While Russia’s economic crisis has decreased the amount of tea the country buys from Sri Lanka, this has caused the price of low grown plucked tea to fall from the earlier Rs. 85 per kilo to some Rs. 70 per kilo.

While expressing their views, tea manufacturers told www.adaderanabiz.lk that though they had faced some difficulties in selling tea a few weeks ago, this situation has now gradually improved.