Indian tea exports have registered a decline of about 23 million kg last year in view of slowdown in the global market, India Tea Association Chairman A K Bhargava said on Monday.

North India’s production had gone down by about 7.5 millions kg, while south India had recorded a significant decline of almost 15 million kg, Bhargava said at the 123rd Annual General Meeting of Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (ABITA) at Jorhat Gymkhana Club here.

There was, however, a positive note for Assam tea industry as it produced four million kg higher than the previous year recording an output of 533 million kg of tea with a turnover of approximately Rs 5,650 crores, he said.

Bhargava attributed the decline to difficult trading conditions in almost every area - Russian Federation, UK, USA, Iran among others.

Europe continues to reflect worrisome economic slowdown, which several experts have recently characterised as having bottomed out but there are expectations that the situation would improve only slowly.

Markets such as the CIS, UAE, Iran and Pakistan hold the promise for a turnaround in exports but it must, however, be kept in view that the trading environment continues to pose significant challenges.

“It is up to the exporting community to show aggressiveness towards recovering ground in these markets,” he added.

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