Blenders and loose tea traders joined the auction and current major foreign buyer Pakistan also lent a fair support.

Around 25,500 chests of tea were put on offer in the auction. Of those, 22, 300 were leaf tea and 3,200 were dust tea.

Apart from a few rich varieties that were slightly dearer, bulk of the produces met an easier market with prices decreasing by Tk 5 to Tk 10 than those of the last week.

Since the overall demand was good, there were fewer withdrawals during the auction. Poor and end-season-types of tea were sold at between Tk 30 to Tk 40 per kg.

Sources said the price of top quality tea climaxed at Tk 110.High quality tea was sold at Tk 90 to Tk 95 against Tk 95 to Tk 105 last week, good quality at Tk 75 to Tk 85 against Tk 80 to Tk 90, medium type at Tk 60 to Tk 70 against Tk 65 to Tk 75 and plain type at Tk 40 to Tk 45 against Tk 50 to Tk 60 last week.

Two more auctions will be held this season and prices may ease further because of end-season and poor variety of tea, sources said.

They, however, felt that despite aggressive local consumption, country's annual tea production would surely lag behind the production of last year owing to aging of the tea plants.

Most of the country's 156 tea gardens are aged between 60 and 100 years and are diminishing in terms of production capability, which is a major reason for the low production of tea these days, sources said.