On 25 September, Dibrugarh in north-east India held the first public electronic tea auction in Upper Assam. The operator, Assam Chai Bazaar LLP, received its auction licence from the Tea Board of India on 18 July and ran its opening sale roughly two months later. More than 120 sellers and over 50 buyers have signed up, with 18 buyers bidding on day one.
The inaugural catalogue listed 258 lots of CTC tea, about 223 tonnes in total. Around 61% of the CTC leaf found buyers at an average near 206 rupees per kg, while about 63% of the dust grades sold at roughly 210 rupees. The top price of the day, 341 rupees per kg, went to a CTC leaf from the Gelakey garden.
The logic is simple: roughly 70% of Assam's major tea estates sit in Dibrugarh and the surrounding districts. Moving price discovery closer to the gardens should cut transaction costs and make the market more accessible to small growers, who now account for a growing share of Assam's black tea.
Source: The Assam Tribune