Tea Board has announced that the district average price for green leaf during August in the Nilgiris will be ₹20.99 a kg.

M Balaji, Executive Director, Tea Board, said that this price has been fixed based on the consolidated auction sale average of CTC teas from bought leaf factories during the month of July.

He said that all bought factories have been instructed to adhere to this average price while buying green leaf from small growers this month.

This is ₹4.49 more than ₹16.50 a kg fixed for the month of July. This is the highest ever price fixed by the Tea Board.

“Many factories are already paying higher than what is fixed now . For the A grade leaf, they pay ₹30-31 a kg, for B+ grade ₹26- 27 and for B grade ₹22-23”, L Vairavan, Secretary, The Nilgiri Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers’ Association told BusinessLine .

“However, the price fixed by Tea Board does not help factories to recover the raw material cost. So, we are appealing to the Board to fix the price at the end of the month. Now, the Board fixes the price at the beginning of the month based on the price at the auction in the previous month and this does not give a realistic picture of the auction price for the current month”, he said.

Small growers are happy. “We are getting good price. We have advised our grower members to stick to the quality of the green leaf so that we will continue to get remunerative returns”, Ramesh Chander, President, Nilgiris Small Tea Growers’ Association said.

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