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Our Bureau

Islamabad looking to sell cotton, molasses to India

Kolkata , Jan. 10

The Union Government has identified Pakistan as the most important among non-traditional countries for the purpose of boosting tea exports with Egypt and Iran being the other countries.

Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, told newspersons on Wednesday that all efforts would be made to step up tea exports to Pakistan to over 30 million kg (mkg) annually in the next few years from the current 14 mkg. Pakistan consumed an estimated 140 mkg of tea annually and half of it was imported from Kenya.

Team visit in April

"We're planning to send a tea delegation to Pakistan some time in the middle of April," he said.

Asked why Pakistan should be keen to step up tea imports from India, the Minister said: "Perhaps we've to buy more cotton, molasses and some such things which Pakistan will be interested in selling to India. I've talked to the External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who is going to Pakistan shortly."

Besides, transportation network too needed to be revamped. There has to be direct shipping services between the two countries. Also, there was a talk of running train from Amingaon (Guwahati) to Wagah border. Exports through the land route could be expedited, he said.

Difficult market

Tea exports to Egypt in 2006 jumped by one mkg to touch 1.5 mkg, he said and indicated that there was a proposal to launch a tea marketing centre in Cairo by way of a partnership between the Tea Board and tea industry.

Iran, according to Mr Basudeb Banerjee, Chairman of Tea Board, continued to be a difficult market but a beginning had been made to enter it.

Earlier, the Minister met representatives of the tea industry to discuss the modalities of implementing the Special Purpose Tea Fund. Assistance under the fund would be available to those tea gardens which did not default on statutory payments such as Provident Fund and others. There would be subsidy from the Union Government to the tune of 25 per cent, the contribution from the grower to the tune of 25 per cent and the balance 50 per cent would be available as long-term loans for a period of 13 years with a moratorium of five years for principal repayments. "We're hoping to sign the first agreement in June," he said.

He said India, the largest producer of tea, suffered from low productivity because 38 per cent of the gardens were more than 50 years old. Between 1971 and 2005, only about 2400 ha per annum on an average was brought under replanting and rejuvenation. "Under the proposed SPTF, we hope to cover more than 12,000 hectares every year," he said, adding, "perhaps we should have done it 10 years ago".

E-auctions

Referring to e-auction of tea, he said: "We're moving towards 100 per cent voluntary e-auction and we're in the process of appointing consultants and we hope to have the system in place by November this year."

Small tea-growers, according to Mr Ramesh, were becoming increasingly important in West Bengal's tea scene and together they now accounted for nearly 10 per cent of total tea production in the State. But the problem was that many of them did not have pucca land titles and gardens making it difficult to get loans from banks and other financial institutions.

At a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, it was decided that the State's land reforms department would undertake the survey of small tea-growers to help them overcome their problems and the Tea Board would extend the necessary help.

The Minister informed that after a gap of three years, India International Tea Festival would be held in Kolkata in November with events also at Darjeeling and Jorhat. "We would like to hold the festival every two years," he added.

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