Nilgiris tea output up 29% in 2017

Tea producing companies in the Nilgiris, the largest tea growing district in the South, have informed the Tea Board that their production in calendar 2017 has increased by 28.81 per cent over 2016.

This happened because they produced 15.38 million kg (mkg) in 2017 against 11.94 mkg in 2016.

The production was also more than the normal as measured by the five-year mean which was 14.03 mkg. That marked a gain of 9.62 per cent over the normal production in a year.

This was despite the weather playing truant in December, when tea companies in the district produced 0.86 mkg against 0.95 mkg in December 2016 and the five-year mean of 0.96 mkg.

2018 has opened with adverse weather conditions in many plantation areas of the district. “We are experiencing severe frost conditions in Korakundah with temperature dropping to -6 degrees Celsius. More than 150 acres of our tea estate have been severely affected by frost,” D Hegde, Director, The United Nilgiri Tea Estates Co Ltd (Unitea), which owns Korakundah Estate, told BusinessLine.