Tea exports down 18.4pc in January-July period this year

Kolkata: India's tea exports declined 18.4 per cent to 115.27 million kg during the January-July period this year amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The country had exported 141.26 million kg of the commodity in the year-ago period, Tea Board provisional data said.

Shipments to CIS countries were down to 30.14 million kg in the first seven months of the current year as against 31.49 million kg exported in the corresponding period of 2019.

Iran, an important export destination of India tea, also lowered its imports to 20.93 million kg during the period under review as compared to 36.76 million kg in the corresponding months last year, the data said.

China, however, increased its import to 5.64 million kg from 5.39 million kg shipped out to the neighbouring country in the first seven months of 2019.

The supplies of the beverage to the UK and the US also fell during the period to 3.28 million kg and 6.11 million kg respectively.

According to Tea Board data, price realisation also declined to USD 2.99 per kg during the January-July period of the current year, as against USD 3.27 a kg in the corresponding months of 2019.

Value of exports stood at Rs 2,559.56 crore during the first seven months this year as compared to Rs 3,223.15 crore in the same period last year.

Tea Board data also showed output in August was at 159.73 million kg, down by around 7 per cent from 172.23 million kg produced in the corresponding month last year.

North India produced 142.95 million kg last month, while South India's output was at 16.78 million kg.