This week's Colombo tea auction averages by grade — the benchmark price Ella-area estates and factories sell into, straight from the broker's own published report.
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Ella sits inside the Uva highlands tea belt, and the price the Colombo auction sets each week ripples through the estates and small factories around town — even though it never touches a picker's own pay packet directly. Forbes & Walker, one of Colombo's tea brokers, publishes the weekly averages by grade; this page carries the same figures.
| Sale date | High grown | Medium grown | Low grown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-20 | Rs 1,077.89 | Rs 997.28 | Rs 1,308.12 |
| 2026-05-26 | Rs 1,080.79 | Rs 963.92 | Rs 1,308.53 |
| 2026-06-03 | Rs 1,074.46 | Rs 950.89 | Rs 1,275.98 |
| 2026-06-10 | Rs 1,062.23 | Rs 963.73 | Rs 1,273.88 |
| 2026-06-17 | Rs 1,042.78 | Rs 951.11 | Rs 1,287.92 |
| 2026-06-23 | Rs 1,050.84 | Rs 943.56 | Rs 1,268.66 |
| 2026-07-08 | Rs 1,061.59 | Rs 967.34 | Rs 1,302.44 |
| 2026-07-15 | Rs 1,047.33 | Rs 955.42 | Rs 1,325.02 |
| 2026-07-22 | Rs 1,083.26 | Rs 962.31 | Rs 1,317.64 |
| 2026-07-28 | Rs 1,088.33 | Rs 956.27 | Rs 1,338.31 |
| 2026-08-05 | Rs 1,073.04 | Rs 940.59 | Rs 1,286.99 |
What sets the price your factory sells at
This is the national Colombo auction average across all grades — the actual price any one Ella-area factory's tea fetches depends on its own leaf quality, garden reputation and the specific buyer at the sale. Treat this figure as the week's benchmark, not a quote for a specific lot.
The picker's wage is separate
Estate workers around Ella are paid a fixed daily wage set nationally — LKR 1,750 as of 1 January 2026, under the agreement between the government and the regional plantation companies — not a share of what the leaf sells for at auction. A rising or falling auction price changes what the estate or factory earns; it does not by itself change what a picker is paid that day.
Source: Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers — Weekly Tea Auction Quantities & Averages 2026, checked 17 August 2026 (last week).
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