Sri Lanka, March 31 -- By Nishel Fernando

The Colombo Tea Auction, the world's oldest operational and largest single-origin tea auction, plans to conduct its next auction for the first time on an e-platform, aiming to avoid public gathering, to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

"We are trying to change the way of conducting the auction. From the traditional outcry system, we are changing it to an e-platform, without getting people together physically. The platform is being currently developed; we hope it will be ready by this Thursday, so we could finish the auction this week," Colombo Tea Traders Association (CTTA) Chairman Jayantha Karunaratne told Mirror Business yesterday.

He noted that the e-platform, w...