Tea association seeks Centre help on export

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri: Representatives of the Tea Association of India (TAI), one of the most prominent organisations of tea planters, have expressed concern over the stagnancy in export of Indian tea and sought the intervention of the Centre and the Tea Board to increase the export to around 300 million kilos over the next three years.

At the annual general meeting of the association in Calcutta on Tuesday, Adarsh Kanoria, the president of TAI, said: "In 2016, India's share has been 12 per cent of the total tea exported by different tea producing countries. We have noticed that tea export from India is stagnating and there has not been much of an increase in export from 2010 to 2016."

Officials said that last year, the total tea exported across the world was 1,774 million kilo, of which, India had exported 222 million kilo. The major countries that had imported Indian tea in 2016 were Russia, Iran, UAE and Egypt.

"The principal reason for this stagnation is the price competitiveness of our teas. The Indian tea sector has a higher cost of production as compared to other nations," said Kanoria.

The industry, he said, has taken up a proposal along with the Tea Board to increase the export volume to 275-300 million kilo by 2020.

The representatives of TAI said that to achieve the target, the planters needed the support of the Tea Board of India and the Union commerce and industry ministry.

"Steps like increase in production of orthodox teas and a review of export incentives would help in increasing the competitiveness of our teas in the global market," said the TAI president.

In India, around 56 per cent of the production comes from tea estates or the organised sector whereas the remaining 44 per cent comes from the small tea sector.

"Back in 2010, small tea growers used to contribute only 26 per cent of the total production but over past six-seven years, their share has climbed up," said a senior tea planter in Siliguri.

The presence of small tea growers is posing a challenge to the organised tea sector or tea estates as the cost of production is almost double that of the small tea sector, which includes growers and bought-leaf factories, said a representative of the TAI.

"On the other hand, there is not much of a variation in price that teas from both these sector fetch at the auctions. This is why, the sustainability of tea estates is in question in most of the tea belts," he said.

At the meeting, the TAI president also pointed out that the cap on use of land for alternative crop, which is five per cent of the total area now, needed to be reviewed.

"This can help the tea estates in increasing their revenue, considering the consistent rise in cost of production of tea," said a tea planter.