Tea exports' target reduced by 5 per cent

For the current fiscal, the country has reduced its tea exports estimate by 5 per cent to 200 million kg because of poor supplies from the southern region. Basudeb Banerjee, chairman, Tea Board of India, informed, "We think tea exports may touch just about 200 million kg compared to the earlier projection of 210 million kg. However, production is likely to touch the target of 960 million kg."

India is the second largest tea producer in the world, after China. According to reports, the country has shipped about 157.78 million kg of tea abroad till January this fiscal, whereas the production was over 912.45 million kg.

The country exported 179 million kgtea in 2007-08 and produced 945 million kg. According to the data available with the Kolkata-based Tea Board, tea exports already have come under pressure, with shipment in January slumping by 25 per cent to 12.69 million kg, compared to 16.89 million kg in the same period last year. "The decline in the availability of tea from the southern part of the country impacted exports, especially in January, even as output did not decline accordingly. Usually, the supply from the Northern region declines towards January and shipment hinges upon that from the South," Banerjee added.

However, industry experts are of the opinion that even the new target of 200 million kg is hard to meet as supply from Southern India is set to be low till the end of this fiscal.