Blexit brews, hills are heady - Blending of Darjeeling Tea set to be banned in EU

A tin of Darjeeling tea sold at Harrods

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Oct. 28: Every year, the world has been imbibing more "Darjeeling Tea" than the picturesque hills in north Bengal have been producing.

Less than a fortnight from now, blending - the process that facilitated the anomaly, nay sacrilege - will be outlawed in European Union countries as far as Darjeeling Tea is concerned.

The EU ban on blending will kick in from the midnight of November 10, the prospect already spreading cheer in Darjeeling, which exports nearly 60 per cent of its tea.

Europe accounts for 65 per cent of the exports, around 10 per cent of which goes to the UK. It is not clear yet how the ban will play itself out in Britain after Brexit, the scheduled exit from the EU.

"The Darjeeling Tea Association welcomes this important recognition of the uniqueness of Darjeeling. The Darjeeling tea is now legally recognised and protected in India and in the EU as a GI," Binod Mohan, chairman of the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), told The Telegraph.

Europe had given Darjeeling Tea the GI (geographical indication) shield five years ago on November 10, 2011. The GI or PGI (protected geographical indication) tag indicates that a product has a unique association with a particular region.

But there was a catch: blenders were given five years to switch to pure content.

"This meant that despite the GI protection in EU, blenders could mix 51 per cent of Darjeeling Tea and 49 per cent of other tea and sell it as Darjeeling Tea till now. However, once the transition period comes to an end, no blended product in EU can be sold as Darjeeling Tea, and the moment has come," said Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser, DTA.

"Henceforth, only 100 per cent Darjeeling Tea will be sold as Darjeeling in the EU member states. A deviation or infringement will be a violation of the law, which will attract criminal and civil liability," said Mohan. "The consumers will be able to seek redress in consumer protection forums," said Mohan.

The blending of Darjeeling Tea, rampant across the globe, has hit Darjeeling hard with the volume of the crop taking a knock. In 1992, the industry produced 14.1 million kg of "made tea", which came down to 8.96 million kg in 2015.

However, blending ensured that twice the volume that Darjeeling produced was sold as Darjeeling Tea across the globe, said an industry source.

"With strict enforcement in Europe, we hope to see improved price realisation, which the Darjeeling tea industry badly needs," Mohan said. According to industry estimates, 55,000 permanent workers and 15,000 temporary workers are employed in the industry .

"The average production cost is more than Rs 350 per kg. Profits are dwindling in the gardens," Mukherjee said.

"There are major issues like absenteeism up to 25-30 per cent of the workforce, inclement weather, work culture, old tea bushes, loss of plantation area, increase in wages, input costs and the lack of scale of economy. All of this has raised the production cost."

India passed a Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act in 1999, after which Darjeeling Tea became the first product in the country to be granted GI status in India by 2003. Only 87 hill tea gardens have been given the GI status and their produce is recognised as Darjeeling Tea.

However, that was only the first step towards protecting the generic brand. Protection needed to be secured from other countries as well. In 2007, India invoked a provision in the EU Commission Regulation that will culminate in the November 10 ban.

The other major importers of Darjeeling Tea are Japan and the US, where the industry is seeking similar protection. "We have made applications before the Japanese Property Right Organisation and the Trade Administration Authority of the US," said Sanjay Bansal, chairman of the Ambootia Tea Group, which owns 14 of the 87 gardens that are certified to produce Darjeeling Tea.