The Hindu Business Line : Domestic tea offtake up 11 mkg in 2007

Coonoor, Feb. 28 It now appears that the fixation of 210 million kg (mkg) as the export target for the tea industry in 2007 was unintended as the actual shipments in 2006 were higher than this.

Earlier, exports in 2006 were taken to be 203.8 mkg – up by 5 mkg over 2005. So, the target for 2007 was fixed at 210 mkg.

But, now, the Tea Board data shows 218.7 mkg as the exports for 2006. In all probability, the target for 2007 should have been higher than this, but looking backwards, it is clear that the target was lower than the performance of the previous year!

In any case, the actual shipments in 2007 were the least of over a decade – they added up to only 156.7 mkg. Compared to the exports of 2006, they were as much as 62 mkg lower.

Earnings target

There was no target for export earnings. Last year’s earnings totalled Rs 1,528 crore. That means, the exporters earned as much as Rs 478 core lesser than 2006, despite the prices fetched rising by Rs 5.78 a kg because of the enormous fall in volume.

But, the industry contends that its carry forward stock of unsold teas into the current year is minimal. That means, the excess availability of 62 mkg arising from lower exports has been consumed within the country. Production fell 11 mkg to dip to 945 mkg. So, the overall surplus was 51 mkg, assuming that the bulk of the imports were used for re-exports.

So, if there is no mentionable carry forward stock, Indians drank an excess 11 mkg in 2007! Domestic consumption in 2006 was 771 mkg.

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