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With Australia re-opening its borders and welcoming tourists since Monday, hopes for increased tea exports from India to that continent have brightened.
Australia is among the highest paying importers of Indian tea. According to the Tea Board, on the average, Australia paid $5.76 a kg for Indian tea so far in this fiscal compared to $5.55 in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
However, its borders had remained closed since March 2020 in its fight against Covid-19 which made movement of tea difficult.
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“In the past, India had shipped about 2.50 million kg of high-priced teas to Australia but in the last two years, due to lockdown in India and border closure in Australia, shipments fell short by at least a million kg,” an exporter told BusinessLine.
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Russia-Ukraine conflict to weigh heavily on tea exports from India
Tea exports to CIS account for nearly 23-24 per cent of the country’s total exportsThe re-opening of the Australian borders has happened at a time when Europe, USA and Canada are posing a threat to tea shipments. Canada is the highest paying importer of India tea and this fiscal, its average pay-out was as much as $10.24 a kg against $5.71 last fiscal.
“However, with the nation-wide protest against mandatory vaccination blocking transport, tea shipments to Canada have been brought to a halt,” L Vairavan, an exporter, said.
The USA is another high-paying importer of Indian tea with a pay-out of $5.83 a kg this fiscal against $5.68 last fiscal.
But, “the prolonged spell of snow and the declaration of emergency by some states has affected tea shipment to the USA. Besides, in the context of the USA threatening to impose sanctions on Russia in the Ukraine issue and the likely re-bouncing, exporters are taking a ‘wait-and-watch’ approach in shipping to the USA,” Vairavan said.
“Most European nations are facing the threat of war because of Russia-Ukraine tension. Exporters are not comfortable in shipping teas and are less hopeful of receiving payments now”, he said.
In the current fiscal, till November — the latest period for which official data is available with Tea Board — India shipped 1.51 million kg of tea worth ₹64.59 crore ($8.70 million) to Australia at a unit price of ₹427.75 a kg ($5.76) against 1.82 million kg worth ₹75.31 crore ($10.11 million) at ₹413.79 a kg ($5.55) last fiscal.
Against this, the CIS, the largest importer of Indian teas, paid only $2.42 a kg so far this fiscal against $2.48 last fiscal.
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