The Hindu Business Line : Tea imports in 2004 likely to set record

THE tea import bill has soared a whopping 151 per cent between January and October 2004 over the same months of 2003. Clearly, when the figures for the whole year are available, imports in 2004 would touch an all-time high.

According to the Tea Board, the import bill rose by Rs 70.47 crore to peak at Rs 117.09 crore in the 10 months. But this is higher than the import bill for the whole year in any year. The closest import value was in 2002, when the bill soared to Rs 101 crore. In 2003, the bill was significantly lower at Rs 43 crore.

The rise has been attributed to a significant increase in import volumes arising from a marked fall in the unit price of global teas. The unit price of the imported teas fell to Rs 45 a kg from Rs 60.21 the year before. So, as much as 26.03 million kg were imported as against 7.74 million kg in January-October 2003.

According to the Tea Board, of the 26.03 million kg imported, as much as 23.01 million kg were re-exported under various schemes. Only 3.02 million kg were used in the domestic market. But in 2003, only 1.83 million kg of the imported teas found their way for domestic consumption.

Contrary to the belief that the imports rose because of the concessional duty applicable to Sri Lanka, only 0.31 million kg were imported from the island as against 0.37 million kgs in 2003. The price was Rs 94.34 a kg as against Rs 94.85 in 2003.

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