India’s tea exports in the first three quarters of this calendar have posted gains on volume, value and price fronts.According to the latest information available with the Tea Board of India, the country exported 173.80 mkg till September against 173.52 mkg in January-September 2017, marking a marginal gain of 0.16 per cent.

Despite a rise in the price, the volume shipped increased because of better demand. The average price fetched rose to ` ₹201.20 a kg from ` ₹196.95 in the nine months of last year, recording a gain of 2.16 per cent.

With more teas being shipped at a higher price, the overall export earnings also posted an increase – to ` ₹3,496.90 crore from ` ₹3,417.49 crore in the nine months of the last year, marking a gain of 2.23 per cent.

At this rate, exporters contend that the overall shipments in 2018 would rise to around last year’s level of 251.91 mkg.

However, increased rupee value against dollar exchange rate may help the overall earnings from these shipments also to rise to about ` ₹5,100 crore from last calendar’s earnings of `₹4987.59 crore, exporters anticipate.

The unit price of the exported teas is expected to average ` ₹200 a kg against ` ₹198 in 2017.