Increased production of black tea in India has helped the overall global output to rise by 3.31 per cent so far this calendar year over the corresponding months of 2018.

“Our compilation of the official data received from various producing countries shows that the global black tea production so far this year has risen to 428.13 million kg (mkg) from 414.41 mkg in 2018,” Rajesh Gupta, compiler of annual Global Tea Digest told Business Line . “This increase of 13.72 mkg marked a gain of 3.31 per cent.”

This has become possible because of a significant increase in India, followed by Kenya, which offset the loss in Sri Lanka.

The Indian production has risen to 188.03 mkg from 180.18 mkg, marking a gain of 7.85 mkg or 4.36 per cent. Kenya has reported a production of 106.29 mkg against 99.76 mkg in 2018. This increase of 6.53 mkg marked a gain of 6.55 per cent.

Bangladesh’s tea output has risen to 8.64 mkg from 5.43 mkg, marking an impressive gain of 59.12 per cent. Malawi posted a marginal increase of 1.30 mkg or 4.76 per cent when its production rose to 28.60 mkg from 27.30 mkg.

“On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s production dropped to 96.57 mkg from 101.74 mkg, marking a fall of 5.17 mkg or 5.08 per cent,” Gupta said.

As of now, Sri Lanka and South India are the only regions which have reported a lower black tea output in the global market. Generally, these two regions experience the same pattern of weather situations and adverse weather is said to be the cause of lower production.

However, the increase in North Indian output has helped the overall production in India to rise above last year’s levels.

India is topping the global black tea production table.

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