India’s tea exports in fiscal 2020-21 fell in respect of both volume and value although there was an increase in the unit price compared to the previous fiscal.

An analysis of the latest data available with the Tea Board shows that the average price of India’s tea in the export market rose to ₹258.99 a kg in 2020-21 from ₹226.12 in the previous fiscal, marking a gain of 14.54 per cent.

However, the higher price brought down the export orders. Besides, the lockdown in many countries in the world’s fight against Covid-19, disturbances in the exchange market as also the banking transactions adversely affected the purchase of tea in many countries.

This led to the volume shipped drop to 202 million kg (mkg) from 241.34 in the previous fiscal – a decline of 16.30 per cent.

This lower volume pulled down the overall earnings from tea shipments to ₹5231.69 crore from ₹5457.10 crore in 2019-20, marking a decline of 4.13 per cent.

South Indian teas fared better than the North.

In the South, the unit price rose by 16 per cent to ₹217.62 a kg from 187.61 in the previous fiscal but this brought down the volume shipped by 12.25 per cent to 83.63 mkg from 95.30 mkg. However, the higher price helped the overall earnings to rise marginally by 1.80 per cent to reach ₹1819.99 crore from ₹1787.88 crore in the previous fiscal.

In the North, the unit price rose by 14.72 per cent to ₹ 288.22 a kg from ₹251.25 in the previous fiscal but this lowered the volume shipped by 18.95 per cent to 118.37 mkg from 146.04 mkg in the previous fiscal resulting in the overall earnings to fall by 7.02 per cent to ₹3411.70 crore from ₹3669.22 crore in the previous fiscal.

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