India’s tea exports fall 2% in April-Sept period

The Dollar Business Bureau 

India's tea exports fell 2% to Rs.2,084.06 crore in the first six months of the current financial year.

The total value of exports stood at Rs.2,124.97 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

The Tea Board in its latest released data said the exports have dipped to 101.04 million kg from 106.36 million kg in the corresponding period last fiscal. The exports in value terms, however, remained marginally higher during the six-month period of the current fiscal on better unit value realisation.

The export realisation stood at Rs.206.26 per kg compared to Rs.199.79 per kg a year ago. The export of tea from the North Indian states - Assam, West Bengal and others - remained marginally lower at 58.10 million kg during April-September 2016-17 as against 58.38 million kg during 2015-16.

Meanwhile, the tea exports from the South Indian states – Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - declined at 42.94 million kg compared to 47.98 million kg during a year ago.

The tea production is projected to decline 795.89 million kg during the first six months of 2016-17.

India is currently the world’s second-largest tea producer after China. The domestic market consumes about 70% of the beverage produced each year.

In 2015-16, the tea industry sold 232.92 million kg in the overseas market while the export realisation stood at Rs.4,493.10 crore.