Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Dec 21, 2004 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Tea Industry & Economy - Standards & Benchmarks Demand to bring tea imports under PFA Act Kohinoor Mandal
Ahmedabad , Dec. 20 TEA imported into India for re-exports should be brought under the ambit of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act and the norms for value-addition should be re-introduced before any such consignment is re-exported. This was stated by Mr Azam Momen, Senior Vice-President of the tea division of Eveready Industries India Ltd, at the 12th annual general meeting of Western India Tea Dealers Association (WITDA) held on Sunday at Anand. He expressed concern over the 25 million kg of imported tea, the average quality of which is poor. Mostly, these teas are blended with domestic tea and re-exported. "Inferior quality tea produced elsewhere in the world is sold as Indian tea. In the process, Indian tea is losing its goodwill. What is the point in having this sort of tea exports?'' he asked. In this context, he suggested that imported tea should come under the scanner of the PFA, as it is also applicable to tea produced in India. This would greatly reduce the import of inferior quality. Earlier, there used to be a value-addition for re-exports of imported tea but that was given the go by a long time ago. Mr Momen felt the system should be re-introduced as early as possible. At the AGM, both dealers and producers expressed deep concern over the proposed categorisation of tea in the 12.5 per cent tax bracket in the ensuing value added tax regime and felt it would affect the ultimate consumer, namely, the common man. Members of the association pointed out that milk and sugar were not heavily taxed. While milk was in fact tax free, sugar was charged only four per cent. Mr Piyush O. Desai, President of WITDA, said several industry bodies, including the Indian Tea Association (ITA), were trying to convince the Union Government to reduce the tax on tea. He urged producers to manufacture good quality tea and get it certified by an accepted authority. For that, he felt, buyers would be ready to pay a premium. He was critical of the five per cent premium for division of lots at auctions. "This is an irritating practice and has led to tremendous discontentment in the minds of buyers. I feel it is a penalty on buyers. As a result of this, they are quoting a lower price in the auction houses, which in turn is affecting the producers' earnings,'' Mr Desai said. Mr Momen also insisted on removal of the five per cent premium on division of lots and added that even producers wanted some changes in the Tea Marketing Control Order (TMCO). ITA and the Calcutta Tea Traders Association would join hands with WITDA and urge the Tea Board to bring about the necessary changes in TMCO.
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