KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia imports around 7-8 million kilogrammes of tea from India, a major chunk of which is from South India. Going forward, too, SITEA expects tea exports from the South will be higher due to various advantages like cost, quality and varieties.
Shah agreed that currently competing countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China and others are enjoying around 5% cost benefit due to duty. “But many times this benefit gets nullified as tea prices in South India is competitive compared to competing countries,” he said.
For instance, currently prices of South India is around Rs 90-100 a kg, while Indonesian tea is around Rs 120-130 a kg. The price in South India is almost Rs 200 per kg lower than the price in North India, which makes South India attractive for these countries.
The delegation also visited Indonesia and held discussion with the local industry.
“Our major focus (during the discussion) has been how to work together to create an exotic blend,” said Shah adding that one of the other discussion points was to create a brand and catering to international customers.
He added, the units which have EOUs in India can import tea from Indonesia and process them here and can send it back to export market. The Association has met 43 people from the tea industry in Indonesia and held discussions.
