India heading for a record tea production this year

Despite a disappointing October, India is heading towards a record production in tea this calendar year, thanks to higher output in previous months.

“Tea Board has now released the data for October which shows a decline in production in both South and North due to adverse weather conditions. South India lost 1.82 million kg (mkg) to produce 25.23 mkg while North India lost 4.08 mkg to produce 151.68 mkg”, Rajesh Gupta, compiler of Global Tea Digest , told Business Line .

“Collectively, India’s production in October fell by 5.90 mkg to dip to 176.91 mkg,” he said.

“Our compilation shows that India’s production in the ten months rose to 1183.27 mkg from 1162.01 mkg in Jan-Oct 2018, thanks to higher output in previous months,” Rajesh Gupta said.

This increase of 21.26 mkg marked a gain of 1.83 per cent. The increase would have been more had it not been for a fall of 6.39 mkg or 3.44 per cent in the South where the output dropped to 179.16 mkg from 185.55 mkg.

Here again, the production would have been more had it not been for Tamil Nadu losing 4.4 mkg to produce 127.07 mkg and Kerala losing 1.53 mkg to produce 48.35 mkg due to bad weather.

North Indian output increased by 27.65 mkg to reach 1004.11 mkg from 976.46 mkg, Rajesh Gupta disclosed. Assam continued to top the country’s production table at 621.71 mkg, up 6.47 mkg.

With the official data remaining only for two more months for the year to end, producers estimate that if this trend were to continue, India’s production this calendar would be around 1360 mkg – the highest ever for the country.

COMMENT NOW