Encouraged by higher output of 4.84 per cent in the first half, indications are that India’s tea production in the current calendar is heading for a new record.

“The Tea Board has now released the data for June, which shows that the country’s production rose to 150.86 million kg (mkg) from 149.13 mkg in June 2018, marking a gain of 1.16 per cent,” Rajesh Gupta, compiler of the annual Global Tea Digest told BusinessLine.

Production would have been higher but for a marginal fall of 0.09 per cent in North India, where the output dropped to 125.86 mkg from 125.97 mkg in June 2018.

Adverse weather in Assam brought down the production.

South India’s output, on the other hand, rose by 7.94 per cent to 25 mkg from 23.16 mkg in June 2018.

“Collectively, in the first half of the current calendar, India’s tea production rose to 473.68 mkg from 451.83 mg in January-June 2018,” Gupta said.

“This increase of 21.85 mkg marked a gain of 4.84 per cent,” he noted.

North India’s production has risen to 373.16 mkg from 341.67 mkg, marking a gain of 31.49 mkg or 9.22 per cent.

Assam continued to top the country’s production table with 220.04 mkg (January-June 2018: 207.37 mkg) followed by West Bengal at 142.55 mkg (125.98 mkg).

On the contrary, South India’s output dropped to 100.52 mkg from 110.16 mkg in the first half of 2018, marking a loss of 9.64 mkg or 8.75 per cent, Gupta said.

Here, Tamil Nadu lost 6.07 mkg or 7.91 per cent due to adverse weather in most months of the current calendar and produced 70.63 mkg from 76.70 mkg in January-June 2018. Kerala suffered a loss of 2.96 mkg or 9.61 per cent to produce 27.83 mkg from 30.79 mkg.

At the current level, producers expect the country’s output to reach a new record of 1,335 mkg when the year ends. The record so far is 1,322 mkg in 2017. Last year, production dropped to 1312 mkg.

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