Be prepared to shell out more for your daily cup of tea as the prices are likely to increase by at least 15-20 per cent in the coming days. The fall in availability of tea dust, floods in Assam and Darjeeling violence are the main reasons that forced the tea industry to rethink about retail prices. The decision to hike the prices is likely to be taken soon.
Tea production in North India was down by 19.3 per cent and South India produced 12 per cent lower in the first quarter compared to last year. At present, average per capita consumption of tea in India is 733 grams.
Sources in the tea industry told The Pioneer production in the country has gone down continually since 2007. “Tea production has been severely affected due to floods in Upper Assam, Central Assam and Terai. The violence in Darjeeling also affected production. All the tea estates are closed since June 9 in Darjeeling after the Gorkha community started strikes and protests, which turned violent, demanding a separate State within India to protect their Himalayan culture. The plucking delay has caused the loss of the entire July crop as well, since workers have been unable to maintain the plants to cause them to grow leaves,” sources said.
“The high cost of production is also one of the reasons and this will lead to an increase in tea prices in the retail market,” said the sources. “At least 15 to 20 per cent hike is necessary. The drop in production is not reflected in prices but it is expected soon,” said the sources.
Industry experts blame climate change and drought-like situation in major producing areas for the visible shift. “The weather pattern has changed and it has affected production,” they said.
The production during January-March 2017 was 88.6 million kg, while it was 105.8 million kg during the same period in 2016. The total production is estimated at 143.02 million kg till June this year while it was 147.15 million kg in 2017 during the same period. In North India, total production was recorded at 116.40 million kg in 2017 while it was 122.14 million kg in 2016. In South India, total production was recorded 26.62 million kg in 2017 while the same was 25.01 million kg in 2016.
The production of Assam valley tea was decreased from 71.01 million kg in 2016 to 63.77 million kg in 2017. The production was also decreased of Cachar tea this year. The production was estimated 4.59 million kg in 2017 while it was 5.03 million kg in 2016. In West Bengal’s Dooars’ tea production has recorded 25.09 million kg in 2017 as compared to 23.78 million kg in 2016. As far as Terai is concerned, the production is estimated 19.98 million kg in 2017 as compared to 17.69 million kg in 2016. In Darjeeling, the production is recorded 0.14 million kg in 2017 while the same was 1.33 million kg in 2016.
The contribution of the big growers was 700.19 million kg, while that of the small growers, 550.30 million kg in 2016.
According to a study, only 15 per cent of youngsters (15-24 age group) consume a cup of tea daily while others opt for some trendy beverage.
India is the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of black tea in the world.
It is significant to note that more than 80 per cent of total tea production is consumed within the country. Despite India’s large domestic consumption base, exports play a vital role in maintaining the overall demand-supply balance in the domestic market, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the major tea growing States. They account for 97 per cent of the total production.
Other traditional States where tea is grown to a small extent are Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Karnataka. The non-traditional States that have entered the tea map of India in the recent years include Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. More than one third of Indian teas are exported to West Asia and North Africa (WANA) countries. These countries especially UAE, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have high per capita consumption and continue to import teas as a commodity in bulk from and exhibit good potential for future growth. The UK is the largest tea consuming country within the Europe followed by Germany and Poland in terms of total consumption mainly in packed form.