Tea Industry slackens; seeks Centre's financial package

Kolkata: Representative bodies from the Indian Tea Industry ha sough the Union government special packages for retaining viability which is under severe threat, PTI reported, citing the Indian Tea Association (ITA).

The bodies have met the Parliamentary Standing Committee recently and submitted a memorandum featuring the challenges the industry is facing.

ITA said that the bodies have discussed general issues and put a focus on Darjeeling. Secretary-General to ITA, Ajith Raha, noted that the production of Darjeeling tea had fallen heavily from 12 million to six million kilogrammes. He cites many reasons, including the lack of possibilities to expand the garden or replant it. Replanted plants will need five to seven years to produce fair yield, and during that time, there will be no revenue, he said.

Raha said that production cost is fixed for both in plains and hills, but in the latter terrain, production is expensive. Further, the prices for Darjeeling tea is also falling as a 1.7 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) drop has been recorded in the last six years. Darjeeling Tea also faces competition in export with others as well as falling domestic demand. Finally, the Ukraine-Russia war is also affecting the exports, Raha said.

The representative bodies sought the government interest rate subvention on working capital loans. It also demanded an increase in the RoDTEP scheme from 1.7 per cent to six per cent and the reintroduction of orthodox tea subsidy in order to increase exports.