Tea exports up 6.31%

PS SUNDAR Updated - January 17, 2018 at 07:04 PM.

KERALA, VALPARAI, 23/10/2013.Workers weighing tea leaves on a tea plantation near Valparai, Tamil Nadu. Workers get paid at the rate of Rs. 191 day for which they have to pick 25 kg of leaves. Every additional kg gets Rs. 3. Shortage of workers is now a major problem being faced by the tea industry in South India.Most of the land in the region is owned by private tea companies. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

India’s tea exports in the first four months of current calendar have increased on both volume and value fronts.

According to the Tea Board, a volume of 67.18 million kg (mkg) of tea was exported from January to April against 63.19 mkg in the same months of 2015. This marked a growth of 6.31 per cent.

Interestingly, more volume could be shipped despite a rise in price due to improved demand for Indian teas.

The average price of exported tea rose to ₹181.82 a kg from ₹172.24, marking an increase of 5.56 per cent.

Consequently, the overall earnings from exports rose to ₹1,221.46 crore from ₹1,088.40 crore, marking a growth of 12.23 per cent.

Of this, North India exported 38.16 mkg (Jan-Apr 2015: 33.81 mkg) of tea valued at ₹806.01 crore (₹700.21 crore) with the average price of ₹211.22 a kg (₹207.10).

There was slight drop in the volume shipped from South India. South India exported 29.02 mkg (29.38 mkg) of tea valued at ₹415.45 crore (₹388.19 crore) with the average price of ₹143.16 a kg (₹132.13).

Published on July 1, 2016 15:55