KYOTO, April 25 — A 1-kilogram batch of hand-rolled new Uji brand green tea leaves produced in Kyoto Prefecture was sold at a record high price of 200,000 yen at the season’s inaugural auction held in the Kyoto Uji tea distribution center in Joyo, Kyoto, on April 24.
Horii Shichimeien, a green tea processor and retailor of Uji in Kyoto, made the highest successful bid for tea leaves grown in the Kyoto town of Wazuka at the auction held in the center ran by JA ZEN-NOH, the marketing arm of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) group.
The average per-kg price in the auction was 14,271 yen, down from 17,119 yen last year.
The number of items put on sale was 101, with the trading volume amounting to 952.7 kg, surging from 31 items totaling 234 kg at last year’s first auction, when the number of items traded was less than half of the average year.
“With this much number of items put on sale, the average price of 14,000 yen marks a great start,” said an official of the green tea dealing market division of JA ZEN-NOH Kyoto, a local branch of JA ZEN-NOH. “We are hoping items will continue to be put up for sale smoothly and traded at strong prices.”
A total of 130 tea dealers from 70 companies participated in bids at the auction.
Addressing participants ahead of trading, Yasuhiro Nakagawa, head of JA ZEN-NOH Kyoto’s steering committee, stressed that Kyoto’s green tea is the world’s No. 1 and called for deals at high prices.
Tea dealers check the scent, color, brightness and texture of tea leaves during an auction in Joyo, Kyoto Prefecture.