Tea production dips in 2015 on adverse weather

With official data now released for November 2015, it is clear that India’s overall tea production in the year would be less than 2014.

“Tea Board has now announced that India’s production in November was 7.62 million kg (mkg) more than November 2014 in North India but 3.65 mkg less in South India. Based on this, our compilation shows that India’s overall production in the 11 months dropped to 1,135.15 mkg from 1,147.93 mkg in the same months of 2014,” Rajesh Gupta, compiler of Global Tea Digest 2015 told BusinessLine.

This drop of 12.78 mkg marked a decline of 1.11 per cent. Production fell in both North and South India due to adverse weather.

North India lost a marginal 1.16 mkg with production dropping to 922.27 mkg. Assam continued to lead the country’s production table as its production totalled 592.19 mkg and it was 2.04 mkg more than Jan-Nov 2014. West Bengal lost 4.07 mkg to produce 305.44 mkg. Production of Darjeeling tea, hailed to be ‘champagne of tea varieties’ rose marginally by 0.21 mkg to reach 8.61 mkg.

South India lost a higher volume of 11.62 mkg to produce 212.88 mkg. Here, Tamil Nadu lost 5.52 mkg to produce 152.51 mkg and Kerala 5.90 mkg to produce 54.32 mkg. Karnataka also posted a marginal fall.

This was the first year in so many years that India’s tea production had fallen over the previous years. In the recent past, the country has been posting new production record year after year.

In 2014, India produced 1,207 mkg. With only December data awaited, producers now fear that the country’s output in 2015 would be around 1,195 mkg.

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