Despite a fall in Indian production, though marginal, there was an overall increase in the global back tea output in January over January 2020, thanks to significant rise in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
“Global black tea production in January rose to 39.39 million kg from 38.17 mkg in January 2020. This increase of 1.22 mkg marked a growth of 3.20 per cent,” Rajesh Gupta, compiler of ‘Global Tea Digest ’ told BusinessLine.
“Sri Lanka’s output rose to 23.05 mkg from 21.94 in January 2020, marking a gain of 1.11 mkg or 5.06 per cent,” he said.
Bangladesh produced 0.29 mkg against 0.17 mkg in January 2020, marking an increase of as much as 70.59 per cent, Gupta noted.
Production posted an increase in January in all countries except India.
“India’s production dropped marginally to 16.05 million kg (mkg) from 16.06 mkg in January 2020,” he said.
North Indian factories were closed for winter and hence there was no production there in January. So, this entire production occurred in South India.
“In the South, Tamil Nadu suffered a production loss of 0.28 mkg or 2.61 per cent as the output dropped to 10.43 mkg from 10.71 mkg in January 2020,” Rajesh Gupta said.
Adverse weather in The Nilgiris and Anamalais pulled down the output.