KOLKATA: Tea exports have registered a 8.67% increase quantitatively and 6.02% increase in terms of value during 2015-16 (April-November) as compared to the corresponding period last year, according to a Tea Board release issued on Tuesday.
The provisional tea exports data released by Tea Board India has pegged tea exports at 141.07 million kgs valued at Rs. 2746.04 crore during 2015-16 (April-November), while the export during the corresponding period last year was 129.82 million kgs valued at Rs. 2590.08 crore.
Meanwhile, tea production registered a marginal decline of 2.65 million kgs (-0.25%), decreasing from 1056.50 million kgs during the period April-November 2014-15 to 1053.85 million kgs during the period April-November 2015-16.
This decline was mainly attributable to the fall in South India’s production from 175.95 million kgs during the period April-November 2014-15 to 165.08 million kgs during the corresponding period this year (-6.18%).
At the same time, North India’s production increased marginally by 8.22 million kgs (0.93%) from 880.55 million kgs during the period April-November 2014-15 to 888.77 million kgs during the corresponding period this year. Production of Bought Leaf Factories (BLF sector) increased by 2.22% on an all-India basis, which indicates an increase of small tea growers’ share in the total production.
This increase was mainly attributable to the rise in the BLF sector’s production in North India from 268.58 million kgs during the period April-November 2014-15 to 280.56 million kgs during the corresponding period this year (4.46% growth).
South India’s BLF sector production saw a fall of 6.15% from 71.91 million kgs during the period April-November 2014-15 to 67.49 million kgs during the corresponding period this year.
At the same time, Estate production in North India declined by 0.61% while in South India it decreased by 6.20%. Although the quantity of tea sold at Auction centres all over India saw a marginal increase of 0.26% but the average price realised during the auctions fell by 2.01% on an all-India basis during 2015-16 (April-November) as compared to the corresponding period last year.
