Dhaka, Aug 11 - Bangladesh tea exports jumped nearly 124 percent to 10.8 million kg and domestic consumption rose 28.5 percent to 43.20 million kg in the financial year to June, traders said on Monday.
Improvements in quality, lower production in rival Kenya and higher prices in South India contributed to the higher exports, traders said.
Exports and internal consumption were 4.83 million kg and 33.63 million kg respectively in the previous 2006-07 (July-June) financial year.
But traders were concerned that exports would fall in coming years as local demand and auction prices continued to rise in the country.
The average price of tea was 123.27 taka ($1.80) per kg at the season's 15th weekly auction on Aug. 5, against 80.7 taka in the corresponding number of auction last year.
"Pakistan and Afghanistan, which import some 85 percent of Bangladesh's tea exports, are now turning to Kenya and Malawi due to higher prices (in Bangladesh)," Mohammad Idris, director of a leading exporting firm, told Reuters.
Bangladesh also exports tea to Kazakhstan and some Middle Eastern and European countries.
Production in the 2007 calandar year was 57.96 million kg, despite repeated floods and a severe cyclone, versus 53.41 million kg in the previous year. Bangladesh's record crop was 60.14 million kg in 2005 due to favourable weather.
Bangladesh produced a record 60.1 million kg in 2005 and exported some 9.0 million kg in the same year.
Bangladesh has 140 tea gardens covering nearly 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres), with some 75,000 hectares under direct tea plantation. ($1=68.52 taka)