NEW DELHI: India’s tea exports increased by 4.2 per cent during the first seven months of the current financial year to Rs 2,318.07 crore mainly on account of rise in value of shipments to Pakistan.
In terms of value, the country’s tea exports to Pakistan increased to Rs 93.24 crore in April-October period of current fiscal from Rs 69.47 crore in the year-ago period. In terms of quantity, India’s overall exports increased by 7.25 per cent to 119.25 million kgs from 111.19 million kgs in corresponding period.
The provisional tea exports data released by Tea Board of India has pegged exports of the beverage at 119.25 million kgs, valued at Rs 2,318.07 crore during 2015-16 (April-October), while the export during the corresponding period last year was 111.19 million kgs, valued at Rs 2,224.54 crore. Increase of tea exports was seen in major tea-importing countries like Russia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the UAE, Iran and Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, tea production registered a marginal decline of 0.69 per cent during the same period to 946.49 million kgs from 953.59 million kgs during the April-October 2014-15 period. This decline was mainly attributable to the fall in South India’s production.
Tea production has been low so far mainly due to unfavorable weather conditions and wages issues have also hit tea producers hard. During the year, there have been reports of labour migration to other industries rather than staying at the tea gardens on account of issues related to quality of life and wages.
India is the world’s second-biggest tea producer and also one of its largest consumer. The country exports CTC (crush- tear-curl) grade tea to countries like Egypt, the UK, and other traditional varieties to Iraq, Iran and Russia.Tea plucking in India mainly picks up between July and October.
