Millennium IT, one of Sri Lanka’s key software developers, has secured the contract to automate the centuries old tea auction system, an official said.

The deal brings together one of the oldest primary commodity exports and the youngest service sector industries of the island.

A mock system has been developed with trial runs going through the teething phase before a possible implementation as early as next year, said Dickie Juriansz, Chairman of Imperial Tea Exports (Pvt) Ltd.

“The whole project will cost us around a million dollars. The systems are still being tested, brokers are being educated and trained how to use computerised bidding as against the current system of shouting out bids at the auction,” said Juriansz, who is also a key member of the main trade body the Ceylon Tea Traders Association.

The current open-outcry or method of shouting out bids, has been used as a platform to sell tea in the country for over a century and over 90 percent of commodity is currently channelled through the auctions.

“We need to embrace technology, to keep costs down,” he told participants at the annual tea conference in Sri Lanka.

As much as six to seven million kilos of tea, sometimes in excess of 10,000 lots, come up for sale in some weeks, with the year end average price per kilo climbing up to an all time high of 300 rupees in the recent weeks.

Posted: 09|1|07 at 9:31 am. Filed under: Auction News.