Sri Lanka, July 17 -- A sharp recovery in Sri Lanka's high-grown tea sector helped lift national tea production in June, but persistent weakness in the low-grown segment, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of total output, continued to weigh on the country's tea crop during the first half of 2026.

Sri Lanka produced 22.56 million kilogrammes of tea in June, up 3.94 percent from a year earlier, supported by strong gains in high-grown and medium-grown regions. However, cumulative production for the first six months of the year fell 2.86 percent to 131.89 million kilogrammes, which shows the extent to which the low-grown sector remains a drag on overall industry performance.

Data compiled by Forbes & Walker Research showed low-grown tea...