Export of Tea from India increases by 14.28%..

Tea exported from India increased over 14.28 % in May. The 9.8 million kg produced over the same period last year increased to 11.20 million kg this year, a release by the Tea Board of India claimed. The production for the month alone increased by 1.7 % to 72.63 million kg. Tea Board Chairman, Mr. Basudeb Banerjee has said,

“The increase in tea exports is due to increased demand in the Middle East. The price of Orthodox variety in Sri Lanka has also risen quite rapidly helping us to remain competitive in the export markets.”

India is the leading Exporter of tea followed by Kenya and Sri Lanka. India exports the CTC brand to Egypt, UK, Pakistan and a premium brand of tea to Iran, Iraq and Russia. There are some growing concerns about the increasing production and export of tea In Kenya, the most obvious fear being that these exporters will overtake India in Tea export.

However, recent surveys and Statistics show that tea production has increased in India even though output of tea from Assam, one of the key states for tea production in India, decreased recently. A similar trend can be traced in most of the Northern Indian states producing tea. The northern- states’ output of tea dropping to 47. 4million kg from the earlier 50. 32 million kg mainly because of the 3. 5 million kg drop in production in Assam. The production of tea in the Southern states rose to 25.22 million kg from 21. 05 million kg

The exports in May, dropped to Rs129.78 crore from Rs135 crore mainly because of lowered realization values which dropped to Rs115.84 per kg from Rs138.13 per kg.

In the meanwhile, Kenya’s output rose 69 per cent to 111.7 million kg in the first quarter of 2010, and is likely to increase. Experts claim that the rising production in Kenya and Sri Lanka will affect the India’s export of Tea.

Source : Stock Watch