The Hindu Business Line : Russia wants South Indian tea producers to step up marketing

A DELEGATION from Russia, which visited tea plantations in South India, has urged tea producers to step up marketing activities to dispel perceptions about the quality of Indian tea in its country.

"We see here that a lot of things have been done to improve the quality of Indian tea. But you need to spread more information in Russia," said Mr Sharif Gantsev, a member of the delegation.

The overall perception about Indian tea in Russia is that it is of poor quality compared to tea from other countries such as Sri Lanka, Mr Gantsev said here, after a meeting with the Tea Traders Association of Cochin.

He said there was no awareness about South Indian tea in Russia. "Before this tour, we were wondering why should we visit South India and wanted to go only to North India," Mr Gantsev said.

He said Sri Lankan tea accounted for 50 per cent of the imports to Russia, followed by Chinese tea with a share of 25 per cent. Indian tea, which accounted for 80 per cent during the Soviet era, today has only a 20 per cent market.

While there is complete information available about the Sri Lankan tea in the Russian market, there is no such communication with India. The exporters need to do more campaigns in Russia to remove the doubts about the quality of Indian tea.

Mr Gantsev said the size of the Russian tea market would range between 115 million kg and 150 million kg a year.

"Given a chance, Russian will prefer Indian tea," he said, adding that the delegation is taking tea samples from estates of Nilgiri and Anamalai for testing in Russian laboratories.

"The tea shown to us in Nilgiri was very good quality. But we have to test the samples in water available in Russia, before giving any opinion. Then we will come back," he said.

More Stories on : Tea | Exports & Imports

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Upasi sees coffee, tea prices rising

Free power — Cauvery farmers happy

Russia wants South Indian tea producers to step up marketing

Bullish reversal for cotton?

IICCI moots indigenous model of Israel's kibbutz

Limited downside seen to high vegoil prices

Quota for milk powder, maize import hiked

Rotterdam to host meet on warehouse receipts

`Educate farmers on co-op movement'

AP Govt seeks report on farmers' suicides