The Hindu Business Line : Nilgiris tea gets record price at world expo

At the first-ever `speciality' tea auction held at Las Vegas, Hilton in the US, Glendale garden in the Nilgiris created history by getting a record price of $600/kg for its `Super Fine Tip Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. Ms Jennifer Cauble of Fortworth in Texas bought the tea.

Hailing this rate as "the highest-ever paid for black tea in an auction," the Convener of the Nilgiris Planters' Association (NPA), Mr T.G.B. Pinto, said 42 different speciality teas from 14 gardens in the Nilgiris were auctioned in the event organised jointly by the NPA, the World Tea Expo and Tea Board of India in the US. More than 100 buyers from the US, Australia and New Zealand are said to have participated in the auction.

About 630 kg were sold in packs of 5 and 10 kg, and the average rate worked out to $41.75/kg (Rs 1,838/kg), Mr Pinto said.

The planters' maiden test appears to have given them enough confidence to take part in such expos in the future. Stating that the NPA members were geared to make speciality grades of tea, Mr Pinto told Business Line that planters from other regions too had evinced interest in participating in the next World Tea Auction to be held in Atlanta in June 2007.

A rough estimate of the market for speciality tea shows that the annual demand is about 2 l kg and this, industry sources perceive would grow to about 5 l kg in the next two years. NPA is gearing up to meet this demand.