Tea Board fixes green leaf price at ₹12.20/kg for July

The Tea Board on Tuesday announced the average price for green leaf for The Nilgiris district in July as ₹12.20 per kg.

This is 40 paise less than the price fixed for June but 20 paise more than the price fixed for July 2017. Besides, it is the lowest price so far this calendar.

Tea Board Executive Director C Paulrasu said, “As per Section 30A of Tea Marketing Control Order 2015, the district average green leaf price for July 2018 is ₹12. 20 per kg based on the consolidated auction sale average of CTC teas from bought leaf factories in June 2018.”

However, the factories are only partially satisfied over this. “So far, the Tea Board has been fixing the district average price at the beginning of the month but we had been objecting to this practice as the price we should pay for the green leaf will be known only at the end of the month based on the price we get for our teas at the auctions. To that extent, we are happy that now, the Board has changed its practice and fixed the price at the end of the month,” Ramesh Bhojarajan, President, The Nilgiri Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association, told Business Line.

“But the Tea Board has fixed July green leaf price based on June auction average price for black tea. This is wrong. The green leaf price should be fixed at the end of the month based on the auction average for the concerned month, that is, July. Now, they have only shifted the date of announcement to month end but the raw material price (green leaf price) does not reflect the end produce price (black tea price). We have urged the Board to amend this lapse”, he said.

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