The Hindu Business Line : Tea exports drop 30%; output dips marginally

Chennai/Coonoor, Feb. 12 The country’s tea production declined by a marginal 1.2 per cent last year as weather played truant, while exports witnessed almost a 30 per cent fall as shipments to Iraq and Pakistan dropped.

According to data available from the Tea Board, production in 2007 has been pegged at 944.7 million kg (mkg) against 955.9 the previous year.

Turning to Kenya

Exports, on the other hand, have been estimated at 156.71 mkg against 218.74 mkg.

“There were hardly any exports to Iraq last year and Pakistan resumed its purchase from Kenya,” said industry sources.

Fall in exports has made the industry to sit up and look for ways to improve things. According to Mr Shashank Prasad, President of Tea Association of India, the country’s share in tea exports has declined to 12 per cent currently from 45 per cent during 1950s.

‘Outpriced’

“Our teas are continuously being marginalised in the global arena. We are being outpriced due to availability of cheaper teas from competing countries such as Kenya, Indonesia and Vietnam besides China,” he said during the weekend at the 37th annual general meeting of North Bengal Branch of the association.

“Our share of exports to Russia, the UK and West Asia and North African countries has eroded substantially,” he said, adding that exports had also slowed down due to higher costs of production in the organised sector.

South India had to bear the major impact of the fall in exports with shipments from the region declining by over 40 mkg. From the North, they slid nearly 12 mkg.

The rise of the rupee by over 10 per cent against the dollar contributed to the fall in tea exports in a way, especially after .

Production

On the production front, the output declined 4.9 mkg in North India to 724.7 mkg. Of this, Assam reported a fall of 3.8 mkg to 479.9 mkg. Assam valley posted the highest production in the country at 430.5 mkg, but still down 7.6 mkg.

West Bengal production slipped 1.8 mkg to 231.5 mkg. Darjeeling produced 11.4 mkg, marginally lower than 2006.

In the South, the output fell by 6.3 m kg to 220 mkg. Tamil Nadu managed to post a marginal increase of 0.9 mkg to 153.2 mkg. Kerala, on the other hand, witnessed a 6.9 mkg fall in production at 61.8 mkg. Karnataka also posted a marginal output fall.

Frost & rain

First frost and then a prolonged dry weather followed by heavy rains affected tea crop in almost all the growing areas. Despite the gloom witnessed in 2007, the tea sector looks forward with hope this year. One of the reasons is the rise in consumption of orthodox tea in West Asia. Efforts are being made to increase production of orthodox tea, which, on the other hand, will also take away the excess availability of crushed, tear and curl (CTC) tea from the market.

“It should restore the balance between supply and demand,” said Mr Prashad.

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