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A. Roy Chowdhury

All ears: The Union Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, listening to the speech of a tea industry representative (not in picture) at the 115th Annual General Meeting of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association in Kolkata on Monday. –

Our Bureau

Kolkata, July 7 Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, on Monday urged the Tea Board to invoke its regulatory powers to stop exports of tea not conforming to quantity obligation and quality standards.

Addressing the 115th annual general meeting of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association here, Mr Ramesh said that his intervention into payments problems relating to tea exports to Iraq revealed that several Indian exporters, including a public sector firm and some top private sector exporters, defaulted in quantity and quality. “I’ve asked Tea Board to call for explanation from these firms,” he said.

But then the problem was not limited only to exports to Iraq; he said pointing out that there were complaints from other countries such as Libya and Russia. Also it was not restricted to tea alone. “We had problems with regard to tobacco and other export items,” he observed.

Mr Basudeb Banerjee, Chairman of Tea Board, said certain benchmark would be laid down not only for exports of tea but also for its imports, which with zero duty were allowed only for exports. “The long-term interest of the industry must not be sacrificed for short-term profits,” Mr Banerjee observed..

Price being the surrogate for quality, he felt that teas fetching prices below certain minimum should not be allowed to be shipped out of the country. This was being done in Sri Lanka. “We’re examining how we should go about it and will submit a formal proposal to the Government for approval after having discussed the relevant issues with all the stakeholders,” he said . “If necessary, we might constitute a committee.”

He indicated that the relevant provisions of the Tea Export Control Order could be invoked to the stipulated quality standards. “I foresee no legal problem in this regard,” he said.

Mr Ramesh also urged the tea industry to simplify the supply chain management, pointing out that there were many segmented interest groups in the system. Describing the supply chain in tea “colonial”, he said the problem was not only institutional but there were others. “How can the retail price of tea that sells in auctions at Rs 80 a kg shoot up to Rs 300 a kg?” he asked.

After the successful launch of the e-auction systems for cardamom and tobacco, the same for chillies was on the anvil.

The e-auction of North Indian teas would be rolled out in the middle of November. Upasi has already introduced the same for South India teas, he said.

Tea exports in the current fiscal, he estimated, would be about 200 million kgs, as compared to 156 million kgs last year.

This should be possible due to thrusts being given to markets — Iraq, which was being revived; Egypt where a breakthrough was expected; Iran where the effort to push Indian was being redoubled; and Pakistan which, he said, was a “yo-yo market” whose prospects depended on the price of Kenyan teas. “But it should be possible to double the quanity we now export to Pakistan,” he said

The next India International Tea Marketing Convention, with focus on international marketing of Indian teas, would be held in Kochi on February 19-21. However, a similar convention would be held in Guwahati around that time to focus on domestic tea.

Mr Gopal Poddar, Vice-Chairman of Calcutta Tea Traders Association, while proposing the vote of thanks, pointed out that the payment problem in Iraq was being encountered even in respect of consignments whose quality and quantity had been accepted by the Iraqi authorities.

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