The tone of the markets that operated this week (no auctions in Jakarta or Chittagong) was pretty healthy but, having said this, price rises were not the universal order of the day. We saw some wobbles in Mombasa, Colombo, and India. The exemplar of relentless demand is Blantyre where the fortnightly auctions and tiny offerings attract strong interest and some astonishing prices. We have just come through Ramadan in the Islamic world and are getting towards the end of summer in the northern hemisphere. Global crop is lagging a little, nothing too dramatic but behind last year, so far. All of these can be viewed as bullish factors if you feel so minded. The countervailing factor is the current high prices, which are well above levels this time last year and we are inclined to think that many traders and buyers have no heart to see these levels escalate further. Finally, of course, supply and demand are the deciding factors, not what we feel or write. We maintain our outlook of the markets to remain volatile at around current levels.

North America has been quite active and their thoughts will turn to the new Argentine season soon. UK / EU showed improved though selective interest. There was good demand from Pakistan packers in Mombasa, while the Bazaar & Afghanistan traders maintained their activity and clearly need tea. Egypt played a stronger hand in Mombasa. With Ramadan over and slightly cooler temperatures prevailing, consumption should increase slowly. Sudan and Kazakhstan were again very modest buyers in Kenya whilst Yemen and Somalia were busier this week. Russian packers were quite active players in Colombo. In North India both main domestic packers were active with Western India buyers busy and there seems to have been a little more export activity.

Useful rain continues in North India accompanied by scorching heat in upper Assam; crop outturn is healthy. The weather in South India remains dry and crop is low. We get mixed weather reports from Kenya, some saying conditions remain cool and quite dry, others reporting fair rainfall and increasing crop. It has been dry in Malawi and leaf intakes remain seasonally low. Bright weather and occasional evening showers in Sri Lanka have led to moderate crop. Indonesia has seen bright conditions in Java with some sun and light showers in Sumatra, crop is low. Vietnam leaf intakes have increased following heavy rain last week. Conditions are dry in Argentina and no early start to the season is expected.

This should make you all happy:-

“Astronomers say the universe is finite, which is a comforting thought for people who can’t remember where they leave things.”