The Nilgiri Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association (TNBLTMA) has reiterated its plea to the Tea Board to fix the price of green leaf (raw material) at the end of the month and not in the beginning.

“We entirely agree with the Union Commerce Ministry and the Tea Board that the small growers need to be given a price protection and so we fully support the fixation of a district average price for the green leaf supplied by them”, TNBLTMA President Ramesh Bhojarajan told Business Line .

“But in doing so, our interests are ignored as we are not given a price protection for the teas we manufacture with this green leaf”, he lamented.

“All that we have been asking for is a mechanism of price recovery for the raw material cost we incur. This can happen when the Tea Board fixes the price for the green leaf based on the price we get for our black tea at the auction concerned”, he detailed.

“Now, the Board is fixing up the green leaf price at the beginning of the month based on the price our black teas got at the auction in the previous month. So, this does not help us to recover the cost of the raw material in the month concerned”, he explained.

“In effect, the Board should fix the price for the green at the end of the month based on the actual price we got for the black teas manufactured with this green leaf”, he observed.

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