India Tea News - Indian Tea

Dues: Garden buys time

2009-02-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Kurseong, Feb. 11: The management of Jog Maya Tea Estate has asked for seven days to clear the dues of 178 workers who have not been receiving salaries for the past three months.

The plea for extra time was made at a meeting held today between leaders of the Darjeeling Terai Dooars Plantation Labour Union, an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, and subdivisional officer, block development officer and the assistant labour commissioner of Kurseong. No one from the management side was present.

The meeting was held at the BDO’s office here.

The management left the garden, located 20km from here at Ghayabari, in December after it had failed to give salaries to the workers. The total dues have now accumulated to around Rs 9 lakh.

“When I spoke to the representatives of the management, they asked for seven days to pay the wages,” said the BDO Manish Verma. The officer also informed the meeting that the 100-day work scheme would begin on February 16. He said another meeting would be held on February 18.

“If the management fails to keep its words within the stipulated time, we might form a co-operative committee to run the estate,” said Verma. He added that representatives of the workers would also be in the committee

Earlier in the day, the labourers organised a blockade on NH55 for three hours, demanding for their dues.

“The SDO has told us that the owner will clear our dues within seven days. We will wait and if the management fails to deliver on the promise, we will revive our agitation,” said Satish Chettri of the union. “However, we are happy that the 100-day work scheme will start from Monday.”

Tata Tea to restructure US operations

2009-02-02T06:18:00.001-08:00

KOLKATA: Tata Tea Ltd is in the process of restructuring its US operations with a view to bringing down costs substantially, a top official of the company official said on Monday.

The company is consolidating its manufacturing facilities, which would be run under a unified entity, Tata Tea Managing Director Percy Siganporia told reporters here. Tata Tea markets brands like Tetley, Goodearth and 8'o Clock Coffee in the US market.

He said that the company's strategy towards the US market is that of cost management. Tata Tea is following different strategies in the various markets of the US, Britain, Canada and India, he added.

In Canada, the strategy followed by Tata Tea is that of product innovation. In standalone operation in India, he said that the company had been able to protect the bottom line while the towline growth was followed aggressively.

India contributed to nearly 26 per cent of Tata Tea's overall revenue. He said a top executive team of Tata Tea has been relocated to the UK. "The chemistry works better when the top executive team stays at the same location.'' Siganporia would relocat e himself from Kolkata to the UK.

From PTI

Stress on quality tea for growth

2009-01-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

Silchar, Jan. 31: Tea Association of India president Shashank Prashad today underscored the need to produce quality tea for the industry to thrive, particularly in the CTC tea-producing Brahmaputra Valley and the Cachar region.

He was speaking at the 38th annual general meeting of the Barak Valley branch of the TAI here today.

The Inter-governmental Group on Tea, an international lobby, in its ruling in China last year, had said there should be no expansion in the tea-producing areas worldwide, particularly in the Brahmaputra Valley and Cachar region.

Against the backdrop of the ruling, Prashad said the tea plantations in the Brahmaputra Valley and the Cachar region should focus on a qualitative increase in the productivity of land and labour.

The TAI president attributed low land productivity as a root cause for sickness in the tea plantations. He urged the planters to reorient their strategies to produce quality teas.

Prashad underlined the need to weed out complexities in the procedural formalities and inordinate delay in the sanction of funds by the Centre under the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF) scheme.

He thanked the Centre for amending the loan terms under the scheme by including the Cachar gardens within the ambit of loans with heavy subsidy for the rejuvenation of the old tea bushes.

From The Telegraph

Tea exports - low hanging fruit for forex earnings

2009-01-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

Tea exports, which are Sri Lanka’s mainstay in agricultural export topped the US$1 billion mark in 2007 thus showing the sector’s potential after government divested the plantation in 1992. These earnings were a tremendous boost to the industry that also plays a key role in employment generation and social welfare. When the global turmoil was spreading the belief was that Sri Lanka was immune due to its limited connectivity and capital account controls.

However from October, Colombo auction prices began to decline rapidly with huge quantities of tea remaining unsold due to lack of demand. This resulted in a vicious circle of debts from exporter to producer thus sending shockwaves in a industry poised for record earnings. With 60% of the production coming from smallholdings the effect on the rural economy was devastating. The average auction price at the last sale of 2008 was Rs 225/kg as against Rs 340 in the previous year thus losing nearly $1 per kilogram.

New Year brings hope
The New Year seems to have brought some hope to the industry with auction prices showing a steady improvement. The first two auctions lit up a depressed tea sector with significant price gains. The second sale of the year averaged to Rs 274 improving from the Rs 253 recorded in the first. Price gains were recorded from all elevations and the trend has been consistent. The industry should not be complacent and must continue with cautious optimism. During the tough depressed times the industry reacted well by taking certain crucial steps that paid dividends. The authorities decided to restrict private sales and ensured that the auction is stronger and quality was emphasized.

Emphasis on quality
Strict surveillance on quality must be pursued with the Tea Board along with brokers and the auction authorities to ensure poor quality teas doesn’t reach the auctions. During the peak price levels there has been a tendency for quick gains and quality has been the casualty. It is also no secret that thefts and adulteration carried out on a large scale and stealing tea in the highways of Colombo too has been reported. A few years ago the Tea Board was able to initiate legal action and expose such crimes. Since such operators have a tendency to re-emerge every effort must be made to enforce the law to protect the good name of Ceylon Tea. Since independence the industry has weathered many storms to become stronger. During the insurrection periods of 1971 and 1989 many tea industry personnel sacrificed their lives, some factories were burnt and the employees and their families lived in fear. Even though the land reform legislation had good intentions politicization saw great losses to the industry and the economy along with mass exodus of expertise.

New look industry
Price fluctuations in commodities is nothing new and perhaps the tea sector should emerge stronger from the present crisis. Vast improvement made during the last two decades in quality enhancement (ISO, HACCP) improved living conditions for plantations workers, surveillance by the ethical tea sourcing partnership and continuing investments by the companies have given strength and a new look to the industry. Tea smallholders have become a major force with high productivity and lower cost of production.

Minimize negative factors
Declining reserves and the persistent macro economic deficiencies will pose a major problem to the Sri Lanka economy in 2009. These could worsen with a decline in worker remittances. In this situation assisting the export sector is a priority and a necessity for the government, and tea has the potential to enhance foreign exchange earnings than any other source. As agitated by exporters, a competitive exchange rate is more than a necessity in the background of devaluations carried out by our competitors during the last six months - Kenya (19.8%), India (12.1) Vietnam (3.8%) and Indonesia (18.2%). Apart from these, negative factors in taxation in ESC, proposal for a Nation Building levy and the export CESS needs to be reviewed. The tea cess was raised during the peak market conditions and an adjustment is opportune to suit the present needs and increase competitiveness.

Recovery in sight
The price levels of the last two years are unlikely to be repeated due to a decline in petroleum prices and next to CIS our major buyers are from such countries where there are credit limitations due to banking problems. On the positive side increasing consumption in India would lead to curtailment of exports and the rise in black tea consumption. China is another opportunity. Kenya, Sri Lanka’s main competitor, experienced a significant production decline in 2008 as against Sri Lanka’s increase. Demand for black tea could rise due to export shortfalls.Most importantly unlike in most other beverages the share of tea in the disposable income of consumers is not significant to anticipate a cut down. These factors do indicate that tea exports could stage a recovery in 2009.

From The Sunday Times

Tata Tea Q3 Group Net Profit Drops, Absent Of Year-Ago Gain

2009-01-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

Friday, Tata Tea Ltd., the largest tea manufacturing company in India, reported a lower consolidated net profit for the third-quarter in the absence of a year-ago gain from the stock sale. However, on standalone basis, the company reported higher net profit for the quarter.

Consolidated Results

The Kolkata-based company posted third-quarter consolidated net profit of Rs.396.12 crore or Rs.64.06 per share, 69% lower than Rs.1,292.22 crore or Rs.208.96 per share in the third-quarter of 2007, which included a one-time gain of Rs.1,604.74 crore on sale of its stake in Energy Brands Inc.

The company said the previous period's figures have been rearranged to the extent necessary, to conform to the current period's figures. Therefore, the comparative figures have been restated to exclude North India Plantation Division and certain related adjustments effected to make them comparable with the current quarter.

The company said its recent quarter results included a one-time foreign exchange gain of Rs.580.41 crore on restatement of foreign currency deposits/loans, compared with Rs.38.25 crore in the prior-year quarter.

The company's quarterly consolidated revenue from operations increased 15% to Rs.1,300.86 crore from Rs.1,135.56 crore in the year-ago quarter, while other operating income totaled to Rs.5.93 crore, compared with Rs.8.07 crore in the prior year quarter.

During the quarter, revenue from Tea segment rose 12% to Rs.1,013.01 crore from Rs.902.20 core in the corresponding quarter last year, while revenue from Coffee & Other Produce amounted to Rs.285.59 crore, up 20% from Rs.238.94 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue from others were Rs.8.19 crore, compared with Rs.2.49 crores in the previous year quarter.

For the first nine months, Tata Tea's consolidated net profit fell 51% to Rs.689.57 crore from Rs.1,417.46 crore in the corresponding period last year. Total revenue grew 13% to Rs.3,647.99 crore from Rs.3,215.51 crore for the comparable period a year-ago.

Standalone Results

The company's third-quarter standalone net profit grew 10% to Rs.48.30 crore from Rs.43.78 crore in the third-quarter of 2007. Total revenue, including other operating income, increased 22% to Rs.382.75 crore from Rs.314.08 crore in the year-ago quarter.

For the Apr-Dec 2008 period, Tata Tea's standalone net profit rose 6% to Rs.129.80 crore from Rs.121.91 crore for the comparable period last year. Total revenue grew 16% to Rs.1,022.04 crore from Rs.878.41 crore for the comparable period a year-ago.

The company said its board has decided to relocate Managing Director, P.T. Singanporia to London, However, he will continue to be the company's Managing Director and will also be responsible for global manufacturing operations as well as buying and blending, supply chain and related activities for some regions.

At the BSE, Tata Tea closed Friday's trading at Rs.607.10, down by Rs.15.95 or 2.56% on a volume of around 49K shares.

Mixed response to Tea

2009-01-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Tea met with mixed response in the sale held here on January 8 and 9. A total of over 14.68 lakh kg of tea were offered in the sale.

In the Orthodox Leaf market whole-leaf grades met with fair demand and sold at irregularly lower levels by a rupee to Rs two. The secondaries and fannings were absorbed at barely steady levels.

Selective demand was witnessed on the range of teas on offer in the CTC leaf market due to non-movement of teas to their destinations because of the All India Trucker strike.

Select brighter liquoring teas fetched dearer prices on competition while the others were fully firm. The better medium and medium sorts were irregular and lower by up to a rupee.

However, the plainer teas met with good demand and sold at firm to occasionally dearer levels, especially the cleaner and blacker varieties.

Select flavoury primary dusts met with good demand and sold at premium levels while the others were irregular and lower in the orthodox dust market. Leaf secondaries were irregularly lower by up to Rs two, while the powdery residuals were absorbed at last levels.

Good demand was witnessed on the brighter liquoring teas which were absorbed at firm to dearer rates in the CTC dust market.

From PTI

Tea Board will allow only cash-and-carry settlements from now

2009-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

Cash-and-carry settlements have been introduced at all auction centres in southern India quite some time ago, but buyers and auctioneers in the east have resisted it so far

Kolkata: The Tea Board of India has said it will only allow cash-and-carry settlements of auctions, after auctioneer Carritt Moran and Co. Pvt. Ltd defaulted on payments to tea producers.

The board said in its 22 January order that auctioneers should release tea from warehouses only after buyers pay. This will be effective from the next auction—sale 5—scheduled next week at Kolkata, Guwahati and Siliguri.

“The move is aimed at discouraging brokers from giving cash credit to buyers,” said Roshni Sen, deputy chairman of the board. “Our aim eventually is to stamp out the practice of lending to buyers and producers, for which auctioneers such as Carritt are suffering.”

The 131-year-old Carritt Moran, the world’s second largest tea auctioneer, went belly up after failing to pay producers and was found to have diverted money paid to it by buyers to service its own debts.

The board will appoint a settlement banker so that auctioneers don’t settle trades on their own. “Four private banks have already made presentations, and we expect to appoint a settlement banker within a month or so,” said Sen.

India produces around 950 million kg of tea a year, half of which is auctioned.
Cash-and-carry settlements have been introduced at all auction centres in southern India quite some time ago, but buyers and auctioneers in the east have resisted it so far.

“The Tea Board has been contemplating the introduction of cash-and-carry settlement for quite some time... The fall of Carritt has given (it) the strength to push through systemic reforms,” Sen said.

Buyers currently have to pay within 14 days—called prompt period. Though this is not being reduced immediately, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has suggested that it should be cut to three days. Sen said the board it still considering NSE’s suggestions. However, brokers are not permitted to extend credit to buyers beyond the prompt period.

Some buyers are opposing cash-and-carry because they fear for their survival without credit from auctioneers, said Rabindra Nath De, director of Star Tea Co. Pvt. Ltd. “But the Tea Board doesn’t seem to be in a mood to budge.”

McLeod Russel India Ltd, the world’s biggest tea plantation company, is happy with the move, however. The auction system will be more foolproof, said Aditya Khaitan, managing director of McLeod Russel.

Author: Aveek Datta
From: LiveMint

Iran to pay for Indian tea in euro now

2009-01-29T19:46:00.001-08:00

Kolkata (IANS): Iran has decided to pay India in euros instead of US dollars for the tea it imports from this country, Tea Board of India chief Basudeb Banerjee said after returning from a three-day visit to Iran.

India exports 11-12 million kg of tea to Iran every year at an average price of Rs.107 ($2.22 or 1.64 euro) per kg. Its total 189 mn kg tea export in 2007-08 was worth Rs.18.89 billion (Rs.1,889 crore or $381 million/ 289 million euro) .

"In Tehran we met officials of Asian Clearing Union (ACU) headquartered there where it was decided that due to payment related problems, Iranian importers would start dealing in euro from Jan 15," Banerjee told IANS.

ACU has been promoted by the UN with the central banks of Iran, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as its members.

The delegation was headed by additional secretary in commerce ministry T.K. Chowdhury. Banerjee and representatives of tea producing companies like McLeod Russel and Rossell Tea and also exporters like Shah Brothers Ltd were in the delegation.

"The three-day meeting in Iran (staring from Jan 3) was very successful. We have discussed all the major issues with the deputy ministers there," Banerjee said.

The delegation discussed the registration charge of $7,000 imposed by the Iranian government in 2007 on exporters under the local Good Manufacturing Practices Act.

"The registration charge will remain but earlier there was delay in the process of trading even after paying that charge. Now they have said they will expedite the process," Banerjee said.

Indian exporters considered this charge high and unnecessary as they were already following recognised manufacturing standards like Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP). HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards.

Earlier, consignments were not cleared from the port despite paying charges, which resulted in demurrage charges imposed on exporters by port authorities.

Tea draft to tap new energy sources

2009-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Siliguri, Jan. 28: The West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation, in association with the Tea Board of India, has decided to draft a package to promote the use of renewable and eco-friendly energy sources in the tea estates of north India.

The corporation hopes such a package would help curb pollution and promote conservation of orthodox fuel and energy sources like coal, diesel and electricity.

The decision to formulate the programme aimed at developing the practice of using renewable energy in gardens was taken at a meeting attended by the officials of the tea board and the corporation and secretary of the Union ministry of new and renewable energy Deepak Gupta in Calcutta on January 23.

“In the package, there will be proposals for development of micro-hydel projects in the tea plantations, use of energy generated from leaves and dry biomass instead of diesel, wood, coal and electricity in brew processing units,” S.P. Gon Choudhuri, the managing director of the corporation, said over the phone from Calcutta today.

“If the tea gardens in the Terai and the Dooars, which get good sunlight, can use machines fitted to solar panels to dry processed tealeaves, the existing resources will be saved and pollution will be mitigated to a large extent,” said Choudhuri.

According to him, implementation of these proposals in tea estates can reduce the use of orthodox energy resources and fuels upto 60 per cent and will substantially cut down overheads.

“In a number of tea estates in Darjeeling hills and Assam, there are streams and waterfalls which can be used to generate power sufficient for the garden. However, impediments like capital expenditure for the projects need to be removed by means of subsidies from the Centre and the corporation,” said the official. “We are assessing the tentative costs of the project, extent of benefits that can be reaped from the scheme, subsidies available and obviously the tentative investment by gardens.”

The project has been envisaged for brew belts like Darjeeling, the Terai and the Dooars in Bengal and the entire tea zone of Assam.

Stakeholders of the industry, who were present at the meeting, have appreciated the move.

“By using alternative fuels and renewable energies, it is natural that production costs would come down. If there are subsidies, the industry can feel attracted to the projects that will minimise costs, pollution as well as hazards involved in collecting fuel. We welcome the effort and look forward to see the package being formulated,” said Monojit Dasgupta, secretary-general of the Indian Tea Association.

R-Day prize for garden girls

2009-01-28T20:23:00.000-08:00

Jaigaon, Jan. 28: The girls of Chengmari Tea Estate High School in Nagrakata returned today with the second prize for the Republic Day march-past in Calcutta after vying with 15 other institutions from across the state.

The headmaster of the school, Shibkumar Jha, said his institution was the only one from Jalpaiguri district to participate in the march-past, taking the salute from governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. “We had sent 60 girls, with three teachers accompanying them, to take part in the march-past a month ago. They were put up at the Salt Lake stadium and trained in marching skill by jawans of the Eastern Command at the Maidan,” the headmaster said. He added that Basantapur Jhareswari Bani Bhaban School, West Midnapore, had topped the competition.

He said the marchers were led by Saroja Majhi, a Class IX student who stays with her parents in Rangamati tea garden.

“We became runners-up although we participated for the first time. We were happy to show off our skills to the governor,” said Saroja.

The girls were presented with a gleaming trophy and certificates by Brigadier P.K. Sanyal of the Eastern Command.

“We were stunned by the vastness of the city and we were very glad that we had an opportunity to see Calcutta, something we had never dreamed of,” she said.

The chairman of the school management committee, D.S. Parmar, who is also the manager of the tea estate, said almost all the 2,000 students were the children of garden workers. “I am proud that they brought glory to the school despite the little opportunities they have.”

Today, the students alighted at the Carron station where a reception was hosted for them. The girls walked all 3km with their trophy to reach the school.

The secretary of the school’s managing committee, Kumar Thapa, said the students would be felicitated at a special function later on. He added that all the expenses were borne by the school education department.

Govt targets Egypt, Iran to boost tea exports

2009-01-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: The commerce ministry is brewing a fresh strategy to shore up tea exports that have seen a decline in traditional markets such as the UK and Russia in the face of competition from Sri Lanka and Kenya. The Tea Board, an undertaking of the ministry, is working with planters' body UPASI to open an export base in Cairo after identifying Egypt, Iran and Pakistan as thrust areas.

Egypt's state-run Misr Import and Export is willing to provide accommodation for the proposed India Tea Promotion Centre. The focus at this point will be on Egypt, where Indian tea occupied a substantial presence till the early nineties, and Iran as Pakistan is unlikely to figure in the ministry's scheme of things in the politically-charged atmosphere after 26/11. A team also visited Iran to sort out issues related to banking and letters of credit from Iranian banks.

Past complaints over quality of Indian tea exports, where the samples shown by an exporter often did not match the consignments, have this time evoked proposals that mandatory pre-shipment inspection by a panel of experts be carried out to match the samples with that of tea being dispatched if the business is transacted through this centre.

During 1981, India exported 18.76 million kg, or 35%, of the 53 million kg tea imported by Egypt. After the COMESA trade agreement came into force among the African countries in 1994, importing tea from India became more expensive on account of higher duties. This opportunity was utilised by Kenya which wrested substantial market share. From an average of 13.5 million kg from 1971 to 1990, tea imports from India came down to 5.6 million kg in the nineties and less than half a million kg from 2001 to 2005.

Egypt has since 2006 rationalised import duty structure, making it attractive for Indian tea exporters. Export of Indian tea too has gone up to nearly five million kg in 2007. India is now looking at exporting 15-20 million kg this year. The new base will aim at building on the changed situation.

Economic Times

Tea planters seek more sops

2009-01-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

SILIGURI: Tea entrepreneurs from Darjeeling have called for higher rate of assistance under the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF).

“Due to cold conditions, the time taken by a young tea bush in Darjeeling to produce the yield is longer than the national average. Moreover, soil conditions here also prolong the gestation period,” said Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA) chairman S Bansal.

“Naturally, it requires higher rate of replantation and rejuvenation to maintain stable production level for a longer term. A higher rate of assistance under SPTF can ensure that.”

DTA has already made an appeal in this regard to Union minister of state for commerce and power Jairam Ramesh. He told ET that the usual old annual tea bush replantation rate of near 0.5% only has gone up to near 6% in last two years after SPTF introduction. “There are applications for replantation in 1,300 hectare (ha) land of Darjeeling hills and over 9,000 ha needs to be replanted soon. It will take over seven years. But we need it to do that much earlier,” he added.

Under the Rs 4,700-crore SPTF, eligible planters can have loan and subsidy for replantation at 50% and 25%, respectively.

Though the subsidy scheme for replantation had been there for long, it could hardly keep the yielding bushes adequately young.

Stir over workers’ suspension

2009-01-27T20:15:00.001-08:00

JALPAIGURI, Jan. 27: A section of the Dangapara Division of Madarihat Land Project of Duncans Tea Company workers today confined the assistant manager of the tea plantation, Mr Manprit Singh, after he suspended four workers today.

According to the West Bengal State Chaa Majdur Sangha (affiliated to Hind Majdur Sabha) secretary, Mr Anjan Chakraborty, an allegation of misappropriation of funds by manipulating the paybook of workers' payment was leveled against the plantation official.

He also said that the official had instructed the labourers to pluck at least 30 kg tea leaves per day despite knowing that they normally pluck 24 kg of leaves on an average.

The district PDS secretary, Mr Jainal Pramanik, said that the assistant manager today suspended four workers of the plantation following which, the workers gheraoed him for almost six hours.

The SDO Falakata, Mr Alias Vez, said that he sent police to the plantation after the trade Union leaders informed him of the matter.

The assistant manager Mr Manprit Singh, however, denied all the allegations. “We have not manipulated the paybook and the four were suspended since they had misinformed the media about the management of the plantation,” Mr Singh said. The agitators withdrew after the plantation manager, Mr Sanjay Gurtu, assured them that their grievances would be heard at a meeting with the authorities tonight.

Darjeeling tea area to be enhanced

2009-01-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

The proposed upgradation of research facility at Kurseong will increase production and productivity.

Kolkata: The Darjeeling tea industry plans to bring about 10,000 additional hectares under tea cultivation over the next few years, Sanjay Bansal, Chairman of the Darjeeling Tea Association, the industry apex body said.

He told The Hindu that this was necessary to compensate for the loss of crop that would result from the replantation and rejuvenation programme now under implementation under the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF).

At present, about 40 per cent of the licensed land amounting to about 17,500 hectares is used for growing the famous brew. The present area is spread over 87 tea estates.

Darjeeling tea accounts for eight per cent of the total value of production and is certainly one of India’s best known commodity exports.

The proposed upgradation of the existing research facility at Kurseong by the Tea Board aims to increase production and productivity.

Source: The Hindu

GJM to start collecting tea tax

2009-01-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

SILIGURI: Vowing to continue its peaceful movement till Gorkhaland was realized, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) said on Sunday that it would begin collecting "tea tax" in Darjeeling from March 7 and demanded an auction centre in the Hills itself instead of the plains.

From March 7, Darjeeling tea packets would have Made in Gorkhaland' tags instead of West Bengal, said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri. The tax paid by planters to the state government so far would now be diverted to the GJM fund against proper receipts. The money would be used for the development of Hills, he added.

The GJM leader also demanded that a tea auction centre be set up in the Hills itself. Asserting that there would be no let up in the movement demanding permission to hold rallies in the Dooars "to unite the Gorkhas and Adivasis in the foothills", Giri said CPM was creating trouble in the area with the help of police.

"The Marxists, with the help of police, are throttling democracy by not allowing GJM to carry out its political activities in the Dooars," he said.

Green energy plan for tea industry

2009-01-24T22:21:00.001-08:00

Kolkata: Renewable energy is all set to be used in the tea industry to reduce manufacturing costs and maintain ecological balance in the Darjeeling Hills, Dooars and Assam. The Tea Board of India and West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) have jointly decided to prepare a package, to be submitted to the Centre.

WBGEDC managing director S P Gonchoudhuri said they held a meeting with tea board officials and several tea associations to discuss adoption of green energy in tea gardens. “We and the tea board will prepare a plan, which will be submitted to the Centre. The package will seek to reduce existing levels of energy consumption to maintain the eco-system of the Hills,” he said.

Indian Tea Association secretary-general Monojit Dasgupta said they were very interested in using renewable energy sources in the tea industry. “The use of solar energy in the industry was planned earlier, too, but the usage cost was high. Now, there are subsidy schemes available for these energy sources,” he said.

Gonchoudhuri said the eco-system of the Dooars, Assam and Darjeeling is being affected due to deforestation and pollution caused by tea factories. “Besides, the cost of manufacturing tea should also be reduced. Solar, bio-fuel and micro-hydel energy could be effectively used,” he said.

Officials said trucks bring in firewood to the factories that produce tea, thereby increasing vehicular pollution and deforestation. If renewable energies are adopted, a great amount of diesel could be saved, apart from reducing deforestation and vehicular pollution, they added.

Auctioneer Carritt in trouble, defaults on payment obligations

2009-01-24T01:40:00.000-08:00

Kolkata: Auctioneer Carritt Moran and Co. Pvt. Ltd has failed to pay tea producers who sold through it in the first week of January, in the first such instance in at least three decades.

Carritt—the second largest tea auctioneer in the world—was yet to fulfil payment obligations for Calcutta sale 1 as of Thursday.

“The shortfall was around Rs1 crore. That’s about 22% of Carritt’s total dues (for sale 1),” said an official of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association, or CTTA, which organizes the auctions. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Producers have been allowed to withdraw their tea from its catalogue, said Roshni Sen, deputy chairman of Tea Board of India, the industry regulator.

“The decision was taken on request from sellers,” she said.

Lots from Carritt’s catalogue are being assigned to other brokers ahead of the next auction—Calcutta sale 4—on 27 January.

On Thursday evening, the Tea Board also ordered opening of an escrow account and asked people who have bought tea from Carritt to pay into it. This is aimed at making sure Carritt doesn’t divert money paid by buyers to service its own liabilities, Sen said.

Some people, however, might have already paid their dues to Carritt directly, and the money might have been diverted.

“So on Tuesday (27 January), when payments are to be made for (Calcutta) sale 2, Carritt might default again,” said the CTTA official.

The auctioneer, however, is expected to fulfil its payment obligations for the Siliguri and Guwahati auctions, he added.

Carritt, a 131-year-old auctioneer, has been lending to small and medium tea growers, mostly in south India, for many years.

The auctioneer had borrowed from private financiers to lend to tea producers. But many of these loans have not been repaid, and according to Carritt’s chairman P.K. Sen, the company was to receive around Rs36 crore from tea producers.

Carritt’s own liabilities are believed to be in excess of Rs50 crore, and even after setting off “all assets on its books, there’s a Rs30 crore gap,” said a tea industry official close to the Carritt management, on condition of anonymity.

Carritt’s Sen was not available to comment. Calls made to his cellphone were not answered.

Lending to tea producers was the only way to expand business during lean years, said the industry official.

“A broker typically lends against yet-to-be ready crop, and makes sure the crop is sold through it,” he explained. “Almost all brokers had got into that business, but Carritt is suffering because of bad cash management.”

Tea Board’s Sen said: “There were big management deficiencies in Carritt. We are trying our best to salvage the company, but it might have to be closed down.”

Carritt, which sells tea worth around Rs1,000 crore a year and earns 1% of that by way of commission, would never be able to pay off its liabilities with income from auctions, she added.

The Economic Times newspaper first reported in its Kolkata edition on Friday that Carritt was facing a financial crisis.

Even before Carritt collapsed, the Tea Board had asked management consultant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd to examine if there were systemic risks and suggest measures to improve the tea auction system.

Deloitte is expected to submit its report in eight weeks, according to Roshni Sen.
“It is unfortunate that a company of such history and class (as Carritt) has come to this state. But I continue to have full faith in the auction system, and the measures adopted by the tea board will strengthen the system and make it more secure,” said Aditya Khaitan, managing director of McLeod Russel India Ltd, the world’s biggest tea company.

From: Live Mint

Jairam, Nirupam rue tea plantation lock outs

2009-01-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

SILIGURI, Jan. 15: The Union minister of state for commerce and industry, Mr Jairam Ramesh, today expressed anguish over the repeated legal tangles coming in the way of the Centre's efforts to reopen the locked-out tea plantations in north Bengal. “My failure to reopen all the 14 locked out tea plantations in the region haunts me as I have developed a warm association with the north Bengal-based tea industry over the years. Yet, I cannot be wholly blamed for the failure. The hurdles of litigation has been coming in the way persistently,” he said.

“We have been able to reopen only two of the 14 closed plantations in the state whereas our success rate is much higher in states like Kerala and Assam. In Kerala, 12 out of the 17 closed tea plantations have been re-opened. Yet, in West Bengal all our sincerest endeavour is coming a cropper,” he said.

The Union minister said that whenever the Centre planned actions like nullifying lease in accordance with the tea plantation-related Act against the delinquent owners, they took recourse of litigation and everything got stuck subsequently.
The state industry minister, Mr Nirupam Sen, also expressed concern over the litigation hurdles in the matter of reopening the locked-out plantations. “The state government showcaused two of the locked out plantation owners recently asking them to show why the plantations should not be taken possession of. Yet the next day they approached the court and all our efforts went down the drain. We respect the judiciary, but such things are happening time and again. We feel helpless,” Mr Sen said.

Assam Co plans investment in oil & gas, tea

2008-02-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

Tea maker Assam Co Ltd. plans to invest 4.3 billion rupees over three years in oil and gas and tea sectors, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The company is eyeing 3 billion rupees in revenue in 2008, up from 1.7 billion rupees in 2007, on higher oil production, chief financial officer Abhay Chawdhry told Reuters in an interview.

It hopes to complete digging 35-40 wells at its oil and gas blocks in Assam by 2010, and increase oil production to 35,000 barrels per day, from 1,000 barrels per day now.

The company is working in six blocks in the northeastern state. "Major part of the investments will go into development of oil blocks, that will boost our revenues," he said.

It plans to invest 400 million rupees for replanting tea bushes and development of processing units at its estates in Assam, Chawdhry said.

It has 19 tea estates and 16 processing units. The gardens produced 16 million kilograms of black tea in 2006.

The firm is re-introducing packet tea brands and plans to open more tea bars, which serve a variety of teas and tea-based drinks.

It plans to set up 100 tea bars in 2-3 years, from nine now, to capture the market for the ancient brew in India, the world's largest producer and consumer of tea.

"We hope tea industry will capitalise on firm international prices and increasing orthodox production," he said.

It also plans to increase orthodox tea production to 5 million kilograms in three years from 1.6 million kilograms now.

NEW VENTURE

The company, which recently forayed into the infrastructure sector, plans to develop a special economic zone for products and services for the energy sector in Gujarat.

It is forming a joint venture with state-run Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd for the SEZ, estimated to cost about 20 billion rupees.

The company's shares ended 4.89 percent lower at 33.10 rupees in the Mumbai market.

Orthodox tea output seen up 47.4 pct by 2012

2008-02-06T03:20:00.000-08:00

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's orthodox tea output may rise 47.4 percent by 2012 on good export demand and incentives by the state-run Tea Board, a top official said on Wednesday.

Production is expected to increase to 140 million kg from 95 million kg last year, Basudeb Banerjee, chairman, Tea Board, told Reuters in an interview.

"We are positively encouraging the production of orthodox tea. We have schemes which provide up to 40 percent subsidy for installing machinery for orthodox production," he said.

Orthodox tea, which constitutes about 10 percent of the country's total tea output, is made from the top two leaves of each plant and manufactured with the help of an orthodox roller.

The Tea Board is also taking up quality upgradation and product diversification schemes to convert more CTC (curled-torn-crushed) plantations to orthodox variety.

Besides providing subsidies to growers, the Board spends about 200 million rupees a year to encourage production of orthodox tea, Banerjee said.

The Tea Board provides a subsidy of 3 rupees for every kg of orthodox tea produced, he said.

Orthodox tea is of a higher quality than CTC and is mostly exported.

EXPORTS TO RISE

Orthodox tea exports are likely to rise in the next few years due to higher demand from Russia and other European countries and stagnant production in Sri Lanka, a major exporter.

"I see excellent prospects in next few years. Sri Lanka's production is stabilising...opportunities are there for India and we can get greater share in the export market," Banerjee said.

Sri Lanka's tea production fell 2 percent in 2007 to 304.6 million kg due to insufficient use of fertiliser.

Russia is now shifting towards orthodox from CTC and India is trying to increase its exports to the country to regain its lost share. Currently, Russia imports about 20 percent of its orthodox requirement from India.

"We are looking at 130 million kg of orthodox tea export by 2012," Banerjee said.

In 2007, orthodox tea exports are estimated at about 93 million kg.

Tea output likely to rise by 4 pc

2008-02-04T23:03:00.001-08:00

New Delhi (PTI): The country's tea production is expected to rise by 4.25 per cent to about 980 million kg in calender 2008 compared to last year's output, according to the government's promotion body for the commodity.

"We expect the tea production to be about 980 million kg this calendar year," Tea Board Director (Development) G Boriah said.

The Tea Board, which is the government's promotion body for the commodity, has estimated the country's tea production at 940 million kg for calender 2007.

Boriah also said tea production in the current financial year is estimated at about 932 million kg compared to 947.17 million kg in 2006-07.

"The drop in tea output last year was mainly due to flood in the north-eastern parts of the country while the southern states were affected because of drought," he said.

Tea Times at Tocklai

2008-02-01T00:08:00.001-08:00

Nearly 100 years ago, the world’s first experimental tea research station was launched in a remote corner of India. The Tocklai Experimental Station was founded by the Indian Tea Association (ITA) at Jorhat, Assam, as early as 1911. Subsequently, several other tea research institutes sprung up in Sri Lanka, Kenya and even in South India. But Tea Research Association, as the Tocklai-based station is called today, remains the parent body of all such institutes in the w orld.

Interestingly, however, the seeds of tea research were sown even before 1911. The scientific department of the ITA, then entirely controlled by European tea-planters, was launched in 1900 with the appointment of Dr H.H. Mann, who worked out of the laboratory of the Economic Chemist to the Government of India at Indian Museum in Calcutta. At the initiative of Dr Mann, a field experimental station was set up at Heelaleak, Mariani. In 1906, an entomologist was appointed at Cachar, the tea-growing area in the Barak Valley, Assam. The experimental station at Tocklai was set up to centralise the work of various branches.

During World War I, the scientists were called upon to participate in active service. After the war, some of the scientists came back and decided to increase the number of European staff at the station. Accordingly bacteriologist, chemist, biochemist, botanist and agricultural officers were appointed. In 1930, the Empire Marketing Board agreed to bear half of the cost of botanical research at Tocklai for five years.

But the Great Depression of 1931 dealt a blow to the tea industry and with it Tocklai was also hit. The Calcutta central office was closed and the services of some of the scientists were dispensed with. In 1935, a Commission headed by F.L. Engledow, Professor of Agriculture, Cambridge, was appointed to inquire into the functioning of Tocklai. Its findings fully endorsed the policy of the Indian Tea Association. Between 1937 and 1939, several recommendations were implemented, including formation of the London Scientific Advisory Committee, initiation of an annual conference of planters’ representatives, and appointment of new staff. But work at Tocklai suffered again during World War II.

In 1948, ITA broke into two and Pakistan Tea Association was formed following the Partition of India in 1947. In 1951, the ITA’s chemical laboratory was set up in London to investigate the chemistry of made tea.

Tocklai boasts several achievements down the decades, right from introduction of annual prune and pest-control prior to 1950, down to the development of bio-pesticides, package for pest control and establishment of pesticide residue laboratory during the 1990s.

The achievements in the past three years have been many. A model tea factory functions within the TRA campus in Jorhat, processing technique has been modified to enhance brightness of tea liquor and a scattered matrix developed based on withering and fermentation behaviour which help blend different cultivars having uniform behaviour during processing. TRA also has to its credit several laurels in the fields of diversification, field practices, plant improvement and biotechnology.

It has been identified as the nodal institute for five multi-institutional projects funded by the Department of Biotechnology to the tune of Rs 5 crore. One of these projects would help release clones in four years. At present, nearly 60 per cent of the tea gardens in the North-East are covered by TRA-developed clones. The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has for the first time awarded Neem Mission Mode Project to develop neem kernel extract formulation to reduce pesticide load in tea.

TRA is also associated with several international projects, including one on understanding the molecular mechanism of Darjeeling flavour in association with Kyoto University, Japan; and a project on remote sensing and GIS inputs for pesticide scheduling, fertiliser scheduling, and drainage and irrigation planning in partnership with ITC, Netherlands. Discussions are on with Cranfield University for a project on soil health. It is also exploring EU funding for certain projects. “Our standard of research is at par with that in any other top-class research institute but our problem is that we’re not articulate enough to market ourselves,” says Dr M. Hazarika, Director of TRA.

But not everything is hunky dory at TRA. What started as an industry-funded venture has now turned largely into a government institute with its usual problems. Industry funding is now limited to around 30 per cent of TRA’s resources. This is presumably because, as Dr Hazarika explains, tea industry is no longer homogeneous. Resource crunch remains a permanent headache, with 90 per cent of available funds going to staff salaries. Yet the employees are not happy because their retirement benefits do not include pension. “We need more funds and more young research scientists because the average age of our existing scientists is rising,” Dr Hazarika observes, adding, “the authorities concerned must take a proper view in this regard”.

Tea tasting competition at Coonoor

2008-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

Friday, 01 February , 2008, 09:54
Last Updated: Friday, 01 February , 2008, 10:23

Coimbatore: The fourth edition of the tea-tasting competition is being organised jointly by the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) and the Tea Board at Coonoor on February 2.

This is the second time that the cupping competition is being held in Coonoor after 2005. The second edition took place in Dubai and the third at Kochi.

Tea samples drawn randomly from the different estates/gardens of South India would be tested for smell, colour, taste, infusion etc. by a national jury of buyers, sellers and brokers.

• Quarterly results of corporates: Check out

‘It would be an objective and stringent selection process. As in the earlier editions, there will be a multi-layer screening process with a scoring system to capture the various quality attributes, and the award winning entries showcased at the Global Tea Forum in Dubai,’ the Executive Director of Tea Board, Nazeem, told Business Line.

Rise in entries

The total number of entries this year has risen to 213 against 208 last year and 194 two years back.

Industry sources said there was an increase in both the entry and garden/estate participation this year compared to the earlier editions, demonstrating sustained improvement in the quality of teas manufactured.

The competition would be in the Orthodox and CTC grades and speciality teas as well.

Indian Bank to step up finance for tea sector

2008-01-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

Coonoor: Indian Bank has launched schemes to finance the small scale tea sector in the Nilgiris. “Before March 31, we intend to improve our presence in the Nilgiri tea sector. Our package covers all players - growers, green leaf agents, women workers, factory owners, traders and auctioneers,” P.N. Patel, Deputy General Manager and Circle Head, in-charge of the Nilgiris, told Business Line here.

Financial inclusion

He said that a branch would be opened in Kotagiri tea belt before March. Recently, the extension counter in Muthorai Palada was upgraded into a branch. “We have already brought in 100 per cent financial inclusion in the tea belts in the rural areas. We will be opening ATMs in Coonoor, Udhagamandalam, Devarshola, Pandalur and Gudalur before March 3. These will serve the tea interests,” he said.

• Quarterly results of corporates: Check out

Patel said that the package for the small scale tea factories in the private sector ensures a loan at 11.5 per cent interest per annum. “We discover that most factories need working capital assistance and this scheme addresses this issue prominently,” he said.

“For growers, we are strongly supporting the Kundah Tea Revival Scheme, where the growers are helped to replant their age-old bushes with high-yielding clones. This spreads to a large area in the Nilgiris tea heartland of Kundah,” he added.

Rural artisans

On tea auctions, Indian Bank is a settlement banker for Tea serve. “We take care of the settlement needs at the e-auctions conducted in Coonoor every Wednesday,” he said.

Women workers are supported through Self Help Groups (SHG). “We are financing the members of SHGs to take on lease the harvesting of tea green leaves. In all, we have extended loans up to Rs 3 crore from the Coonoor branch to the SHGs. By March 31, we plan to increase this to Rs 5 crore. The repayment is 100 per cent,” said S. Panchalingam Senior Manager, Coonoor branch.

Russian Ban on bulk tea imports

2008-01-28T05:09:00.000-08:00

KOLKATA: Exports of bulk tea, coffee, rice, tobacco and sesame seeds to Russia have come under threat. The Russian authorities are reported to be considering a ban on imports of plant products from India on the basis of detection of kharpa beetle pest in an Indian consignment of sesame seeds that landed in Russia recently.

The ban is reported to become effective January 28. The Russian authorities have apparently taken the decision against Indian agri-items on the recommendation of the Federal Service for Veterinary & Phytosanitary Surveillance (FSVPS), under the agriculture ministry.

The Russian watchdog for animal and plant health has recommended the ban after receiving reports of presence of kharpa beetle pest in an Indian consignment of sesame seeds. When contacted, a commerce ministry official said, “We have unofficially heard about the Russian decision. To get a confirmation on the report, the ministry is in touch with the Indian embassy in Moscow.”

The unconfirmed report also suggests that the proposed ban will apply to Indian plant products coming from Third World countries even as Indian cargoes carrying those items come with phytosanitary certificates issued by the National Quarantine & Plant Protection Organisation of India, he added.

However, the proposed ban will reportedly apply only to bulk consignments of tea, coffee, rice, tobacco and sesame seeds from India to Russia and not on their arrival in packaged forms as they are outside the watchdog’s jurisdiction.

This has come as a major blow to the Indian tea industry, which is trying to make a renewed entry into the Russian market. Russia imports nearly 30 million kg of tea annually from India.

“We have also heard of a ban on bulk tea imports by Russia. The Tea Board has taken up the matter with the commerce ministry. The ministry has said that the matter is being dealt with through diplomatic channels. The ministry is hopeful of an early solution,” Tea Board chairman Basudeb Banerjee told ET.

It may be recalled that Russia had earlier imposed a ban on the entry of rice, sesame seeds and groundnuts in May 2007. After much persuasion, the ban was lifted from Indian rice in July and that on oilseeds in September 2007.

As for rice, the ban was imposed on the purported detection of demethoate in an Indian container while imports of India’s sesame seeds and groundnuts faced the ban due to presence of aflatoxin B1 and metallomagnetic admixture in a sesame seed container. After much persuasion, the ban was lifted from Indian rice in July and that on oilseeds in September 2007.

Tata Tea net jumps to Rs 1,307 cr

2008-01-28T05:04:00.001-08:00

MUMBAI: Tata Tea Ltd on Monday posted over 11-fold rise in net profit at Rs 1,307.31 crore for the quarter ended December 2007 as compared to Rs 117.19 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The total income of the group stood at Rs 1,189.65 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 1,119.32 crore during the same period last year, up 6.3 per cent, the company said in a filing to the BSE.

The standalone profit of the firm decreased 37.5 per cent to Rs 58.88 crore for the reviewed quarter from Rs 94.20 crore in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the income grew 34.4 per cent at Rs 401.38 crore for the latest quarter as against Rs 298. 72 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Shares of the company were trading at Rs 790.60, down 0.35 per cent at the BSE.

Tea Prices Set to Soar With India Ban

2008-01-28T05:01:00.001-08:00

Tea prices were expected to rise by as much as 30 percent after a ban on Indian plant products came into effect Monday, although special regulations may be introduced for tea and coffee imports.

The Federal Service for Veterinarian and Vegetation Sanitary Supervision introduced the ban after a shipment of sesame seeds was found to contain Khapra beetles, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported Saturday.

The country's tea stocks are sufficient to last a month, after which there would be significant difficulties because Russia gets one-third of its tea from India, the newspaper said.

Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Saturday that the insects could cause 5.5 billion rubles ($225 million) worth of damage if they infested the country's stocks and that prices could rise 20 to 30 percent.

Ramaz Chanturia, deputy head of the Russian Tea and Coffee Association, said Thursday that an agreement had been reached with the watchdog about special regulation for tea and coffee, Interfax reported. He said the relevant documents had been drawn up and that he hoped they would be approved Monday.

Tea shops downed shutters in Chennai

2008-01-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

Chennai: About 10,000 licenced tea shops downed shutters here on Friday in Chennai protesting the "expensive LPG cylinder tariffs," and also pressing for some other demands.

At a time when the Central government is mulling hiking the prices of petroleum products, which also includes Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), the traders closed shops Friday, before putting up their own demands.

T Anandan, secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Tea Shop Owners' Association, said that Chennai has 10,000 licenced tea shops and another 5,000 of them without licence.

"The 19 kg LPG cylinders supplied to us are done under the commercial category, which costs Rs 1160 for a single unit. Star hotels in Chennai receive LPG cylinder supplies at the same rate, but we are not able to meet the expenses," he said while claiming one cylinder would not last for more than five days.

"A single shop requires 8-9 units a month," he said.

The 14 kg cylinders supplied to households at subsidised rates are priced at around Rs 258, Anandan said.

"We want the 19 kg LPG cylinder to be supplied at Rs 700 and the 14 kg one at Rs 500," Anandan said.

Presently, tea shops are not supplied with the 14 kg cylinder, he added.

In order to press for these demands, the traders on Friday took out a rally here and submitted a memorandum to the state goverment officials.

Chennai is a city which is dotted with tea shops at every nook and corner of the metro. More than a lakh people, directly and indirectly, are employed in the industry, Anandan claimed.

Loan and subsidy distributed to 34 tea estates

2008-01-06T01:24:00.000-08:00

Loan and subsidy were distributed to 34 tea estates in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from the Special Purpose Tea Fund constituted by the Union government at a function here on Saturday.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh, who distributed the cheques, said the fund for revival of tea plantations had been launched in West Bengal and Assam. The money was intended for re-plantation and rejuvenation of tea plants which were more than 50 years old. Out of 1,600 tea estates in the country which were eligible for the scheme, 479 had applied for it. The rate for South Indian estates were increased in consideration of the higher labour cost. The area to be covered under the scheme every year was being increased. The pruning height of plants was also being raised to benefit estates in South India. Fewer applications from the South were on account of the large number of small estates present in Kerala and other South Indian States which were not eligible for the scheme.

Though South India accounted for only 25 per cent of the country’s tea production, it had a share of 50 per cent of the export of tea. About 40 per cent of India’s tea growing area would come under the scheme within 15 years, according to the government’s estimates. Accordingly, re-plantation would be done in 11,000 hectares every year. An amount of Rs. 4,700 crore would be spent under the fund in 15 years.

He said the government would publish a notice on expression of interest for takeover of the closed tea estates for finding new owners under the powers vested with the government. The Minister made it clear that nationalisation of tea estates was not on the agenda of the government and that the estates would be entrusted with new owners. The process had already begun in West Bengal, he said.

The Minister said the government would encourage production of orthodox tea as there was an increased demand for it from abroad. There would be more subsidy for orthodox tea. The Minister stressed the fact that the scheme would be the last chance for rejuvenation of tea plantations. Sri Lanka, Kenya and Vietnam would overtake India if the country failed to increase productivity.

Referring to exports, he said Iraq was a big market for Indian tea, but payment issues had come in the way. Though tea was exported to Iraq from Kolkata, the consignments originated mostly from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The exports to Iran, another important market, too faced problems arising out of letters of credit. The issues were being sorted out.

The Minister said the Indian cashew sector was under threat from Vietnam where productivity was three to four times that of India. A recent study conducted by the Union government revealed that 25 per cent of cashew was produced in Maharashtra, while Kerala accounted for 12 per cent. But 50 per cent of the cashew was processed in Kerala. The government was actively considering the proposal for setting up a Cashew Development Board for integrated action to promote the sector. A Global Cashew Alliance consisting of India, Vietnam and Brazil was under consideration. It would be an intergovernmental consultative body.

Basudeb Banerjee, Chairman of Tea Board, said 60 per cent of the target under the scheme had been met during the current financial year. The tea industry was comparatively not big in terms of turnover, but it derived strength from the number of people employed by it. The sector employed more people than those in the software sector and 50 per cent of the workers were women.

Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan said the amount being distributed under the scheme should be enhanced. He wanted the Union government to discuss the conditions for distribution.

Tea prices increased

2007-12-28T00:16:00.000-08:00

AHMEDABAD: Your daily cuppa has just got tad a more expensive. Leading branded tea players including HUL, Tata Tea, Girnar, Wagh Bakri and Jivraj Tea have increased their prices and others are expected to follow suit. While tea leaf plucking ends in December every year, this year the branded tea prices have increased as the companies are facing high pressure on profit margins due to higher demand, reduced production and higher procurement prices across low, medium and premium segment.

The price of branded tea has increased in the range of Rs 1-7 per pack. According to industry sources, Tata Tea has increased the price by Re 1 and HUL has increased the price of its brand ‘Brooke Bond Red Label by Rs 7 (from Rs 98 to Rs 105 for 500 gm pack). When contacted HLL spokesperson said: “We have witnessed continued cost pressures in the tea category for sometime now. We are managing the cost pressures through a combination of cost effectiveness programmes, scale benefits and judicious price increases. We have taken selective price increases in our portfolio.” We do not comment on future/proposed price changes (increases or decreases) as a policy as it is competitive information, he further added.

HUL and Tata Tea, jointly control half of the branded tea market and the rise in both premium, medium and low segment tea categories compelled the firms to increase prices. Smaller players whose profit margins have already been affected due to rise in mid and low-segment tea are also implementing a price rise.

“We plan to up our prices as the cost of production has gone up. But the price-rise will be very marginal,” informed chairman and managing director of Jivraj Tea Viren Shah. The prices of several branded teas are expected to further increase in January and February due to off-season. The tea production too is not keeping pace with rising demand.

Total tea production of India is already expected to dip from 956 million kg last, to around 930 million kg this year. “The increase in demand is bound to put pressure on the branded players,” says chairman of Tea Board of India Basudeb Banerjee. The price of premium tea has increased from Rs 80-85 a kg to Rs 100-105 per kg. And the price of relatively lower-quality tea has jumped from Rs 62-65 per kg to Rs 80-82 per kg.

29-week low offerings at Coonoor tea auctions

2007-12-27T02:12:00.001-08:00

Coonoor: For the last auctions of 2007 to be held by the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) through Sale No: 52 on December 27 and 28, the volume catalogued is the lowest of the past 29 weeks. An analysis of the catalogues shows that only 8.41 lakh kgs will come for auctions. This is some 60,000 kgs lower than last week. For the sixth consecutive week, the volume is lower than the 10-lakh kgs level.

Frost effect
Frost in many tea growing pockets has reduced the harvest and restricted the arrivals. Arrival totals 7.25 lakh kgs out of 8.41 lakh kgs catalogued now. The balance comprises teas remaining unsold in the previous weeks. Of the 8.41 lakh kgs, as much as 6.02 lakh kgs belong to the leaf grades and 2.39 lakh kgs belong to the dust grades.

Source: Sify

Assam politics shadowed by tea votes

2007-12-22T04:56:00.000-08:00

Politicians in Assam are at their wits' end trying to woo voters belonging to the reservation-seeking tea garden workers' community ahead of the staggered panchayat elections that begin on December 31.

Influential tea workers' groups like the All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam (AASAA) and the All Assam Tea Tribe Students' Association (AATTSA) have clamped a ban on the entry of politicians across party lines in areas dominated by the community.

The political class in the state of 26 million people has drawn the ire of this community, which decides or influences the poll verdict in 20 of Assam's 126 assembly constituencies, for not pushing their demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Adivasis and the tea tribes in the state.

"We shall not allow politicians to campaign during the panchayat polls," Justin Lakra, leader of the AASAA, said.

The ruling Congress, that has been a favourite party of choice among the tea workers' community, too has been flayed by these groups for not doing enough to ensure ST status that would bring them reservation in jobs and educational institutions like their kinfolk in states like Jharkhand.

The Congress-led state government, however, has gone all out to convince the community that it was in favour of doing everything it can to improve their socio-economic status.

"The Congress wants that the Adivasis, along with five other communities in Assam, should get ST status. We are in fact backing their demand and are in favour of working towards the overall uplift of the Adivasis and other communities," senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also an Assam government spokesman, told IANS.

All of a sudden, political parties have started fielding more candidates belonging to the tea workers' communities for the coming panchayat polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that already has some penetration in the tea garden areas, has fielded 21 candidates belonging to the tea workers' community in the eastern Jorhat district alone.

Assam has 800 tea gardens, producing more than 50 per cent of India's total tea production of around 900 million kg.

The Adivasis and other tea workers had migrated to Assam more than 150 years ago when the British brought them here to work in plantations from present day Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Chattisgarh.

The central government has rejected the community's plea for ST status saying they were not indigenous to Assam and had lost their tribal characteristics after their migration to a new area.

The tea workers have rejected this argument and are bent on leading a sustained agitation to force the government to concede their demand, leading to a volatile situation in Assam ahead of the rural polls.

Source: The Hindustan Times

Tea faces pricing pressure

2007-12-22T04:54:00.001-08:00

AHMEDABAD: As tea production takes a dip, leading tea majors such as HUL, Tata, Sapat and Wagh Bakri seem to be facing pricing pressure. The jump in procurement price of tea in medium and lower segment is making things difficult for companies selling packed tea under this segment. The price of tea in this segment has increased by around 20-30% compared to last year.

The prices have increased due to lower production and higher demand. Unlike last year, which witnessed 3% jump in production, tea production is expected to dip to around 920 million kg. “As the economy continues growing at a fast pace, the tea consumption is rising.

However, the supply is not keeping pace with the demand. And the production is expected to drop by 30 million kg this year, thus increasing the prices of even cheaper teas,” says chairman of the Tea Board of India Basudeb Banerjee. Indian tea production has been rising consistently since 2000 except in 2002. Last year the total tea production was 956 million kg.

The tea production season is nearing an end in north India as over 75% of the area stops production by December. The tea estates in southern India, however, continue the production but the production goes down due to winter.

“December being the last month for tea procurement, we procure tea till May. However, as the prices of cheaper teas have gone up, we are procuring teas at higher prices for our mid-segment brands like Navchetan and Mili,” informed Wagh Bakri group’s tea tester Partha Mazumdar.

The companies selling packed tea under different categories, including premium and mid-segments, are paying significantly higher price. The price of premium tea has increased from Rs 80-85 a kg to Rs 100-105 per kg. And the price of relatively lower-quality tea has jumped from Rs 62-65 per kg to Rs 80-82 per kg.

“The tea growers have not got good returns in the last few years. So, even while companies end up paying more, high-price might help producers sustain and avoid closure of tea gardens and further ensure continued supply to the market,” says chairman and managing director of Jivraj Tea Viren Shah.

Source: The Economic Times

Economic Survey says India one of largest tea producer and consumer

2007-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tea. According to the Economic Survey 2006-07, tea production, after stagnating between 1997-98 and 2004-05 at around 830-850 million kg, increased by about 12 per cent in 2005-06 (930.9 million kg). Tea consumption in quantitative terms is growing steadily by three per cent a year.

The tea sector is one of the oldest and largest employment providers. More than a million people are directly and indirectly dependent on the tea industry for their survival. According to the Labour Bureau, GOI Occupational Wage Survey (Sixth Round, 2006), the total permanent workforce in tea plantations is 8.12 lakh with 54.24 per cent women workers. In the report, female employment reported the highest with 63.07 per cent in the tea plantations of Tamil Nadu.

Tea plantations in India were first set up by British colonizers in select climes for their vested interest. At present, tea is largely produced in Darjeeling, the Terai and Dooars region of West Bengal, Upper and Lower Assam, Peermade, Wayanad in Kerala and the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu. Types vary with the region.

Given the nature of an "enclave economy", where workers are dependent on tea estates for their income and survival, workers are thrown into situations of closure, abandonment, lockout and work suspension that deprive them of not just their daily income but also access to medical and other benefits such as maternity, drinking water and electricity.

In West Bengal and Kerala, the precarious situation has resulted in starvation deaths and suicides among tea workers’ families. This has accentuated their vulnerability as a marginalized community. Historically, workers have merely shifted from a situation of “total deprivation” to a situation of “bare subsistence”.

In Jalpaiguri, there are 13 abandoned and closed tea gardens. In Idukki district of Kerala, seven tea estates and six factories are abandoned, in Thiruvananthapuram district, one tea estate and two tea factories are abandoned. In Tamil Nadu, there are four closed tea gardens. In many of the tea gardens, owners do not declare the tea gardens as closed. They abandon them. The company has to apply for closure to close a garden. These companies owe huge dues not just to the workers in terms of Provident Fund and gratuity but also to the respective state governments and banks concerned.

Though certain pockets of tea growing states are in a crisis situation, the overall performance of tea as an economic product is improving. The annual average domestic price for tea was Rs 63.62 a kg last year and has been categorized as “Normal Year For Tea”. This sector is dominated markedly by big multinational companies that have amassed huge profits. For example, Tata Tea recorded an increase in profit of 40.8 per cent between the years 2003-04 and 2004-05.

The plantation sector is being restructured. Various stakeholders have analyzed the crisis in West Bengal and Kerala but a comprehensive understanding is yet to be reached. There are various factors responsible for the crisis that include poor quality of tea bushes or their neglect, change in the ownership pattern, monopoly and cartelisation of a few buyers, retailers and blenders. These factors influence prices at tea auction centers, contribution of the small tea growers' sector to production, absence of value-addition to tea and other structural reasons that are tea-garden specific. Violation of labor and basic livelihood rights is a reality.

Efforts are on by the Central and state governments to address the issues of closure and abandonment. The Center appointed the Ferguson Committee to give details of the problems and causes of closures/abandonments.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared a Special Purpose Tea Fund in January under the 2006-07 Budget. The amount is estimated to be Rs 4,716 crore over a 15-year period. A process of setting up a plantation department by the Union commerce and industry minister Mr Kamal Nath is in the pipeline.

It was recently announced by his ministry that nine tea estates had reopened in Kerala and one in West Bengal after the government declared its rehabilitation package. It provides for the restructuring of outstanding bank dues, provision for fresh working capital, waiver of outstanding dues to the Tea Board and settlement of Provident fund dues in installments.

It is not clear, however, how the government will ensure proper utilization of funds without a transparent monitoring mechanism of the Special Purpose Tea Fund in places where trade unions are involved.

A monitoring committee represented by both state and Central governments and the Tea Board has been formed but has excluded workers’ representation from trade unions.
Every year, 15 December is observed as International Tea Day with the objective of affirming the rights of tea plantation workers. With the involvement of key labor research organizations in India and other tea-producing countries, International Tea Day has emerged as a global activity of workers and small-grower representatives. The countries include Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The first International Tea Day was held in New Delhi in 2005 and the second in Sri Lanka, last year.

International Tea Day observations and deliberations have contributed towards an international alliance and attracted the attention of the governments of India and Sri Lanka to address issues in the tea sector.

There is need for further collaboration and action, besides addressing larger concerns vis-a-vis multilateral institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the International Labour Organization.

The International Tea Day network affirms the principle of a living wage. It states that the living wage should not be less than the minimum wage and de-linked from tea prices. Wage increment should be in congruence with the cost of living across countries. A campaign for an international commodity agreement for tea would ensure price stabilization of raw and manufactured tea. The International Tea Day is attempting to address the inequities in the global tea trade. Trade unions have historically played a vital role in implementing labor legislation in the plantation sector. There is the need for all workers and trade unions to take a united position and International Tea Day is an important occasion to affirm workers’ rights.
It is relevant to observe International Tea Day across all tea-producing areas in India as it would provide a common platform to discuss issues common to tea workers. Indian tea trade unions demand the immediate reopening of closed and abandoned tea gardens in Kerala and West Bengal. More than 30,000 workers have been affected.

(The author is general secretary, United Trades Union Congress, West Bengal state committee.)

Country could close down with low tea production and tea exports

2007-12-13T07:01:00.000-08:00

KOCHI: Downturn in production and export has hit Indian tea’s prospects in the current year. As activity in the tea industry slows down during winter, the country could close 2007 with lower production and exports, industry sources said.

Most major global tea producers, except India and Sri Lanka, have shown an increase in tea production during the year. Kenya has recorded the maximum increase, which has affected Indian exports.

Industry sources attributed the lower production in India to the prolonged rains during the year. Production is down 17.53 million kg at 689.26 million kg for January-September, compared with the same period in the previous year. For the same period, Kenyan production is up 63.48 million kg.

With just three months to go, production is unlikely to touch the level of 956 million kg achieved in 2006, sources said. In fact, Indian tea production has been rising consistently since 2000 except for a bad year in 2002. All-India tea production was 847 million kg in 2000, as per Tea Board figures.

The situation is far worse on the export front. Till September, exports were down 37.16 million kg even as Kenyan exports rose 28.75 million kg. Indian exports for the nine-month period stood at 118.74 million kg. Lower exports to Iraq, coupled with the rupee’s appreciation, have been instrumental in pulling down total exports, which had touched 203 million kg in 2006.

“Indian exporters have not been sending tea to Iraq since March as the payment for the earlier consignments are still due. Iraq is now buying more from Sri Lanka and Vietnam,’’ said leading tea exporter Krishnakumar J Shah. Last year, Iraq was the largest purchaser of Indian tea at 40 million kg. This year, till June, exports to Iraq were down 20 million kg. Purchases by Pakistan have also gone down. With an improved crop situation, Kenya is supplying more tea to Pakistan. With lower production and exports, the average price of Indian tea in auctions was down Rs 1.27 per kg at Rs 65.14 per kg till September.

Source: The Economic Times

Low volumes take Coonoor tea prices up

2007-11-12T01:49:00.000-08:00

Coonoor : Prices rose on an average of Rs 3 a kg at the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA) here on Saturday when the demand strengthened to absorb the low offer at high bids.

The volume of 11.24 lakh kg offered was the lowest of the last seven weeks even as the demand was competitive due to the Diwali festival in the North Indian States.

Buyers from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh picked up quality teas.

Strong demand prevailed for categories of orthodox teas.

Brokens

"Leafy brokens fetched an additional Rs 2 to 3 a kg. Smaller brokens and fannings among the CTC leaf grades were dearer by Rs 1 to 2. Bolder CTC dust teas sold higher by Rs 1 to 2 a kg,” an auctioneer told Business Line.

But, primary orthodox dust grades lost Rs 3 to 4 a kg.

Export segment

On the export front, Pakistan reduced its purchases as the exporters showed reservation in the context of the political uncertainty.

CIS picked up bolder varieties for up to Rs 38 a kg, but most purchases were for the plainer grades at Rs 33.

Egypt bought well made fannings for Rs 40.

Poland shippers showed interest for some bolder brokens.

Leaf factories

Among the CTC teas from bought-leaf factories, Homedale Estate RD grade sold by Global Tea Brokers got the highest price of Rs 92 a kg.

This is the second highest price for the factory so far in 2007, the highest being Rs 93 in August.

Darmona Estate got Rs 85, Vigneshwar Estate Rs 80 and Hittakkal Estate Rs 78.

Among the orthodox teas from the corporate sector, Kodanaad and Corsley got Rs 108, Kairbetta Rs 106, Prammas Rs 105, and Curzon Rs 102.

Bid range

Quotations held by the brokers indicated bids ranging from Rs 32 to 35 a kg for the plain dust grades and Rs 60 to 80 for the brighter liquoring teas.

They ranged Rs 30 to 31 for the plain leaf grades and Rs 55 to 67 for the brighter liquoring teas.

Source: Sify

Sabari tea sales go up

2007-11-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

KOCHI: Sales of the Sabari brand of tea from the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (Supplyco) went up 18.34 per cent during the first half of the current year in comparison with the same period last year.

During the first six months of the year, Sabari brand tea sales stood at 1,711.29 tonnes, a 240 tonnes increase over the first half of last year. The demand for Sabari brand of tea has been boosted by sustained quality and a competitive price, said a press release from Supplyco here. The Corporation expects to sell a total of 3,165 tonnes of tea under the Sabari brand during the current financial year. The tea division of the Corporation has been earning a profit of Rs. 4 crore.

There will be new variants of Sabari tea in December with the Corporation planning to launch Sabari Extra Fresh next month. The new variant will come in duplex cartons in 250 gram packs. Sabari brand is also planning to target the customers who look for premium quality tea, said the release.

Source: The Hindu

Kolkata tea prices firm

2007-11-06T00:14:00.000-08:00

Kolkata : Last week, CTC teas at the North Indian tea auction centres at Kolkata, Siliguri and Guwahati met with very good demand and sold at all round fully firm to dearer rates with active support from the blenders and domestic buyers, according to J. Thomas & Company Pvt Ltd, tea auctioneers.

Orthodox varieties also saw a good demand. The whole leaf grades and fannings held levels while brokens recorded a slight easing. The CIS and West Asia continued to be the main operators.

Darjeeling teas witnessed better all round enquiry and sold readily at firm levels. The blenders lent good support with selective enquiry on better sorts. The local dealers were active.

Weather conditions were seasonal and crop intakes normalised during the week.

International
In Colombo, Sri Lankan teas, after having witnessed a continuous appreciation for several weeks, recorded a slight decline following an easing in demand.

Kenyan teas at Mombasa auction saw improved demand at generally firm to dearer rates, following strong enquiry from Egypt, Pakistan and West Asia.

Source: Sify

Tea exports likely to slip below 203-m kg

2007-10-26T19:36:00.000-07:00

Kochi : Payment defaults, rise in global production and appreciation of rupee have combined to pull Indian tea exports this year. The exporters feel that the tea export from India is likely to close much below 203-million kg achieved last year. The India tea export in January to August stood at 103.09 million kg compared with 122.50-million kg in the same period of the previous year. The decline has been for the South Indian tea, which fell by 26.5 million kg.

North Indian tea exports gained by over 7-million kg as it comprised mostly Orthodox variety of tea going to Russia and CIS, which are still active buyers. It was Iraq’s change from hero to villain in a matter of months that hit the South Indian tea industry most. The largest buyer of Indian tea in 2006, the country is being shunned by Indian tea exporters now due to heavy payment defaults.

Iraq had purchased 40-million kg of Indian tea in 2006, which was higher than that bought by Russia and CIS, which have been traditionally the largest buyer of Indian tea. “Exporters are avoiding Iraq as payment arrears of previous exports run into crore of rupees. Even when the country floated fresh tenders, exporters were reluctant to participate,” says tea exporter Krishnakumar J Shah.

For the six-month period of January to June, Iraq’s purchase of Indian tea amounted to 3.35-million kg against 23.42-million kg in the same period last year. If Pakistan turned out to be a promising destination for Indian tea last year, the general rise in global production particularly in Kenya, has put paid to that hopes. In the January –August period, Kenyan production has jumped by 34% to 244 million kg.

Kenya, a regular supplier of tea to Pakistan, was not able to meet the full quota last year because of a drought. This led Pakistan to look towards India. But this year Kenyan supply to Pakistan has improved considerably much to the disappointment of India.

Source: The Economic Times

Indian Tea industry challenges faced

2007-10-24T05:09:00.001-07:00

Tea - easily identifiable with India, immediately brings to mind the lush tea gardens of Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiris. The tea plant that was first discovered growing indigenously in Assam in 1815 by a traveller is today a well established industry in the country, producing more than 850 million kgs of tea annually.

The tea industry is one of the oldest organized industries in India with a large network of tea producers, retailers, distributors, auctioneers, exporters and packers and employs one of the largest workforces in the country.

It is a well-known fact that next to water, tea is the most widely consumed non-alcoholic beverage world over. It is grown in more than 32 countries among which India is the largest producer. Located in backward, rural and hilly areas, the tea plantations supplement the economic life of these regions through employment generation and social welfare and provide a higher standard of living at the grassroots level.

The industry provides direct employment to more than a million workers of which a sizeable number are women. More than two million persons derive their livelihood from ancillary activities associated with production, value addition and marketing of tea. The tea trade is a major contributor to the country’s economy. Substantial foreign exchange earnings with negligible import content, contribution to the State and Central exchequers, preserving a pollution free biosphere and soil conservation. are some of the important features of this industry.

Production and Export
With a history of tea making and tea drinking, it is not surprising that world over, Indian teas are appreciated for their unique flavor and aroma. India produces three specialty teas - Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiris which are exported world over. Green and organic teas are also produced in India but in small quantities. Tea is grown in 13 States and Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the largest producers. Though the major part of the tea production comes from big estate gardens, the contribution of the small grower segment has shown an increase in recent years with many small farmers in Assam, North Bengal and Bihar switching over to its production.

In 1998, the country produced the highest ever 870 million kgs of tea. Of this, 758 million kgs was Crushed-Torn-Curl (CTC), 104 million kgs was Orthodox (leaf tea) and 8 million kgs was accounted for by other types, which included green, organic and instant teas. Exports at 210 million kgs in 1998, were also the highest ever in the past decade. Despite being the world’s largest producer, India’s share both in world production and exports has declined over the years.

The country today accounts for 27.16 per cent of the global tea production and 13.09 per cent of the world trade. While production of tea during 2004-05 (April-July), estimated at 310 million kgs, has registered a substantial decline of about 29 million kgs as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, tea exports, estimated at 56.06 million kgs during 2004-05 (April-July), have shown an increase of 9.79 million kgs over the same period of the previous year.

Almost every tea-drinking nation in the world imports some variety of Indian tea! Due to an existing large domestic market for Indian tea, exports, however, account for less than 20 per cent i.e. domestic production.

Some of the constraints facing the Indian tea industry which directly affect production, productivity and quality, include the old age of bushes with more than 30 per cent of the tea area being above the economic threshold age limit, slower pace of re-plantation with the rate of replanting being less than 0.5 per cent as against the desired level of 2 per cent and the consistent fall in its auction prices which has adversely affected the investment in the plantations. The consequent decline in productivity along with increasing input costs have led many gardens to become sick or close down.

The share of Indian tea in the world market, on the other hand, has suffered in recent years due to the stiff competition from other producing and exporting countries like Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Kenya. Some other factors that have adversely affected the export potential of Indian tea include - various tariff and non-tariff measures imposed by some tea importing countries, lower off take by Russia due to change in consumer preferences, lower production of orthodox teas which have a larger demand worldwide, quality problems and the higher cost of production and prices of Indian tea.

Initiatives
The Tea Board of India, a statutory body of the Government has been entrusted with the task of the development of the tea industry. It has taken several initiatives to support the tea industry and overcome the challenges it is facing today. During the 10th Plan period, the Board is implementing a number of developmental schemes for enhancing the productivity, quality and marketability of the teas produced in the country. These include financial and technical assistance to various plantation development activities, such as replanting, rejuvenation, and creation of irrigation facilities. Export is also being focused upon with the implementation of a medium term export strategy. The production of quality teas, especially orthodox type of teas is being encouraged.

Media campaigns have been launched to increase consumer awareness for Indian teas besides extension of promotional support to Indian exporters in marketing Indian brands in principal export markets. The total 10th Plan outlay for the Tea Board is Rs.350 crore which is being utilized to rejuvenate the tea industry.

Special efforts are also being made to address the problems of the small growers of tea. These include measures like fixation of a price sharing formula between small tea growers and the manufacturers to enable the small growers to get a reasonable share of the price obtained for the made tea, implementation of a price subsidy scheme and carving of a Special Tea Term Loan package. One of the most important initiatives taken by the Government in the small sector has been the quality upgradation program, which was launched in South India in July 2000 and is continuing successfully so far.

The Tea Board has also followed it up by launching a full-fledged scheme for quality upgradation and product diversification, aimed at modernizing the tea factories. The measures taken not only seek to alleviate the income related problems of the small growers, but also recognize the inherent advantages and immense potential of the small grower sector in driving Indian tea exports.

Though in the last few months, there has been a recovery in the prices of tea and exports have also started looking up, it is now evident, that with the emerging trends in the globalized economy, markets can no longer be protected. The Indian tea industry, would have to gear itself up to counter the new forces unleashed by globalization.

Courtesy: PIB Features

Tata Tea's Tea drive

2007-10-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

Bangalore : In an attempt to woo back the growing breed of youngsters who are turning to coffee, Tata Tea is launching a nationwide 360 degree re-branding campaign.

The campaign will focus on the demographically young crowd and also focus on a key social message. “We are trying to show tea as a youth drink not just for people who are demographically young but also for people who aspire to remain young. The demographically young account for 40% of the population right now,” said Sangeeta Talwar, executive director, marketing , Tata Tea.

“Our last campaign with Sania Mirza brought about an emotional connect with the brand. We are moving one step forward and bringing in awareness of social causes. The brand is now wearing the mantle of social responsibility,” she added.

Apart from 10-second commercials across TV channels on social issues like water, responsibility of cops, role of politicians and women in sports, the company also plans to start a website. “We are launching a website, jagoindia.org, that will allow young people to chat about social issues . Through this forum , they can discuss relevant social issues,” she said.

With the tag line, Har subah sirf utho math... Jago re, the company is also focusing on retail points, multiplexes and shopping malls to increase awareness. “While it is a nationwide campaign , we are focusing on 8-10 cities with all our campaign,” said Ms Talwar. “While tea has 91% penetration in the country, in the case of coffee width of penetration has increased but not the depth,” she added.

Source: The Economic Times

Indian tea exports to Russia increases

2007-10-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

KOLKATA , India (Reuters) - India expects to boost tea exports to Russia by a quarter in 2007 as it battles stiff competition in other markets such as Britain and Germany, the head of an industry body said on Monday.

Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of state-run Tea Board, said exports to Russia were expected to reach 41.25 million kg this year, up from 33 million kg in 2006.

Sales to Russia in the first half rose 22 percent from a year earlier to 18 million kg, he said.

"The rising exports to Russia are a very good sign for us," Banerjee told Reuters in an interview, adding India had stepped up the production of orthodox tea the Russians favour.

India, the world's largest tea producer after China, has been looking to step up exports after sales were hit in the first half due to a rupee that has risen more than 12 percent against the dollar this year and stiff competition from rivals such as Kenya.

Russia, a tea-drinking country that consumes about 170,000 tonnes a year, was India's main export market before 2001 but sales dropped to about 30,000 tonnes in 2006 from 113,000 tonnes in 2000 as Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Kenya and Vietnam increased their market share.

Total exports from India during the first half were down 19.3 percent at 86.03 million kg from 106.6 million kg in the year earlier period, Tea Board officials said, due to the stronger rupee and tough market conditions in Germany, Britain and Iraq.

"Sales are picking up now and we are hopeful that exports will catch up in the next few months," Banerjee said.

Exports rose 6.9 percent in August to 17 million kg from 15.9 million kg a year earlier, the Tea Board said.

India was also pursuing new markets such as Egypt and Australia, Banerjee said.

However, sales to Iraq, a traditional buyer, slumped to 3 million kg during January to June from 23 million kg in the same period last year as the war-torn country was unable to meet payments, officials said.

India's tea production this year has been hit by bad weather, with the output during January to August easing to 576 million kg from 582 million kg a year earlier, they said.

Source: Reuters, India

Lower tea volume on offer at Coonoor sale

2007-10-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Coonoor : An analysis of the catalog's of various brokers indicates that a volume of 11.71 lakh kg has been offered for sale this week at the auctions of the Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA).

This is nearly 30,000 kg lower than the volume offered last week. But, it is almost 2.57 lakh kg more than the volume offered this time last year. Of the 11.71 lakh kg, 8.32 lakh kg belong to the leaf grades and 3.39 lakh kg, dust grades. Again, as much as 11.05 lakh kg belong to CTC variety and only 0.66 lakh kg, orthodox variety.

Orthodox share
The proportion of orthodox continues to be low in both the leaf and dust grades. In the leaf counter, only 0.22 lakh kg belong to the orthodox while 8.10 lakh kg, CTC. Among the dusts, only 0.44 lakh kg belong to the orthodox while 2.95 lakh kg, CTC.

Around 9.67 lakh kg is fresh tea. The balance comes from the volume remaining unsold in the previous auctions.

With exporters taking a subdued approach, producers are keeping their fingers crossed on the volume that could be sold at fair prices, the auctioneer said.

Source: Sify

Weather played foul on Assam tea and Kerala tea production

2007-10-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Chennai : Adverse weather conditions in Assam and Kerala have cast a negative effect on tea production so far this year, while exports tended to look up in August.

Tea production during January-August this year has been estimated at 576.1 million kg (mkg) against 582.3 mkg during the same period last year. The crop has declined mainly in Kerala, where a prolonged dry spell until June affected the crop.

In fact, the dry spell has hit other plantation crops such as pepper and cardamom also. Among all the tea-growing States, Kerala has accounted for the major decline and it is the only State in the South to witness a fall. Production in Tamil Nadu witnessed a marginal rise, while it was flat in Karnataka.

On the other hand, production in Assam has slipped by four mkg this year, with August registering a 1.5 mkg fall. In Assam, it was heavy monsoon spell that affected the crop.

Heavy rainfall in West Bengal during August also resulted in production being adversely affected. In Bengal, the output in August declined four mkg but overall, it is up 2.4 mkg.

Exports, which have been witnessing a decline this year barring March and April, gained in August, though marginally by 1.15 mkg to 17.06.

Overall for the year, it is estimated to have declined by 19.41 mkg at 103.90 mkg.

Lack of orders from Iraq, a major buyer last year, and Pakistan, which has tended to buy more from India in the last two years, has been the main reason for lacklustre performance.

The other reason for export slipping is that Kenya, whose crop was hit by drought last year, is witnessing an improvement in production and consequently, its shipments have turned competitive in the global market.

Source: The Hindu

Mixed tea prices at Coimbatore

2007-10-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore : The prices of Orthodox leaf teas moved up marginally while that of others ruled lower by Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per kg in the Coimbatore auction held last week, trade sources Tuesday said.

With shippers to the CIS countries operating on orthodox leaf grade selectively, well-made Nilgiris clean larger teas and brokens quoted firm to occasionally dearer by Re. 1 to Rs. 1.50, while other grades eased by Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per kg.

Brighter liquoring CTC leaf met with some demand, but was easier by Re. 1, whereas medium and plainer brokens saw less demand and tended easier by Re. 1 to Rs. 2.

In the dust category, orthodox quoted Rs. 1 down, while CTC selected high priced propular marks were barely steady and others lower Re. 1 to Rs. 1.50 with some withdrawals, especially browner leaf appearance teas, the sources said.

Orthodox high grown brokens quoted Rs. 55 to Rs. 77, while good CTC brokens Rs. 42 to Rs. 50, fannings Rs. 43 to Rs. 50, medium brokens Rs. 36 to Rs. 40 and fannings Rs. 36 to Rs. 39 per kg.

Best CTC dust quoted Rs. 54 to Rs. 65, good Rs. 44 to Rs. 53, medium Rs. 36 to Rs. 42 and medium orthodox dust Rs. 30 to Rs. 42. Of the total offerings of 5.54 lakh kgs, dust comprised 3.63 lakh kgs, the sources said.

Source: PTI

Steady trend at Kochi tea sale

2007-10-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

Kochi : Arrivals to the Kochi tea auction was lower at 9.81 lakh kg of dust and 3.18 lakh kg of leaf this week. Best quality and popular CTC varieties remained barely steady. Good liquoring CTC varieties tended to be dearer while poorer quality CTC tended to ease. Orthodox dust high grown remained steady and medium orthodox barely held their price.

Good liquoring CTCs witnessed fair demand from blenders and the loose tea trade. Exporters were active on some select grades.

Best CTC varieties quoted Rs 65-75, medium CTC fetched Rs 50-58 while below medium ranged at Rs 30-35. High grown BOPD fetched Rs 100, medium BOPD quoted Rs 40 and secondaries were at Rs 27-32.

Leaf Sale
Despite the good general demand high grown orthodox bolder brokens and primaries just remained steady. Whole leaf grades were irregular. Medium orthodox grades were steady. Poor orthodox grades witnessed less demand and tended to quote lower. Good liquoring CTC were steady and sometimes dearer. Other CTC varieties tended to ease. Orthodox grades witnessed good export enquiry.

Best Nilgiri varieties quoted Rs 82-97, medium orthodox was at Rs 44-72 and plain orthodox fetched Rs 40-41. Best CTC leaf was at Rs 47-58 while medium CTC leaf ranged at Rs 40-45.

Top Prices
Kodanad BOPD fetched the to price in the dust segment at Rs 100 followed by Pasuparai SFD at Rs 78, Chinnar SFD at Rs 77 and Pasuparai/Monica SFD at Rs 76. In the leaf category Sutton GFOP quoted the top price at Rs 130, followed by Chamraj FOP at Rs 129, Craigmore FOP at Rs 126 and Craigmore FP at Rs 126.

Source: Sify

Flood hits Assam tea gardens

2007-10-08T04:07:00.000-07:00

India's tea production has been hit with heavy floods in the northeastern state of Assam inundating plantations and rampant pests eating away the crop in some areas, officials said.

'Floods have had an impact in some areas where plucking was suspended for sometime with plantations under water, besides erosion hitting a number of gardens,' Dhiraj Kakati, secretary of the Assam branch of the Indian Tea Association, told IANS.

According to estimates, there is a production loss of about 4 million kg of tea until August compared to the corresponding period last year, the official said.

India is currently the world's largest tea producer after China with a record crop of 955 million kg last year, Assam accounting for about 55 percent of the total produce.

At least 70 plantations of Assam's 800-odd gardens have come under floodwaters.

Three waves of flooding since July left over 100 people dead and nearly 12 million people displaced in 25 of Assam's 27 districts. The worst hit districts Are Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Dhubri, Morigaon, Barpeta, Lakhimpur, and Nalbari.

Close to 10,000 villages in an area of 825,000 hectares were affected by the raging floods that cut a swath across the state.

'Some of the factories were hit by the floods forcing the managements in those plantations to shut down operations,' said K. Sharma, a senior planter.

Adding to the woes of the cash-strapped tea industry are rampant pests that are eating away tea crops. A tea mosquito called helopeltis has attacked some 100 plantations in various parts of Assam.

'We saw a sudden outbreak of blisters in some plantations and have been battling the helopeltis outbreak ever since,' Sharma said.

'This time too, like in the past, there have been seasonal pest attacks in certain areas although the problem is not widespread,' Kakati said.

According to tea growers, the bugs tend to attack plantations when the young leaves brown.

The Indian tea industry had projected an estimated production of about 1,000 million kg this year.

'There is still time to make up the loss in production and it would all depend on the rainfall we get in the next few months,' Kakati said.

India's $1.5 billion tea industry was facing the worst crisis in the past century with prices dropping in the weekly auctions, besides facing a slump in export figures,

'Prices at the auctions are lower by about Rs.1.50 per kg compared to corresponding figures last year. Exports are also down by about 10 million kg in the same period (January to August),' the tea official said.

India exported 200 million kg last year.

The slump in prices and exports was largely attributed a glut in the world tea market.

Source: India PRwire

Indian teas to recapture Russian market

2007-10-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore : Indian teas are set to recapture the Russian market, the Tea Board Chairman, Basudeb Banerjee, said here on Friday.

He was in the city in connection with the 25th Annual General Meeting of the Tea Trade Association of Coimbatore.

Recalling his recent visit to Russia and the discussions he had with the Russian Agriculture Ministry and the trade associations there, Banerjee said, “We will soon be able to restore the No.1 position.”

“The board has signed an agreement for joint promotion of Indian tea in Russia. Under this agreement, at least 75 per cent of the packaged teas should be of Indian origin. Russia is proposing to pass a law on these lines and this is expected to be in place next year.”

The Russian offtake has, in the meanwhile, improved considerably for the orthodox and quality CTC grades of tea during the current year.

Asked when it would touch 100 million kg, Banerjee said, “We are not looking at volumes, but in supplying quality teas, as quality appears to be the prime concern out there.” The board would encourage marketing of packaged teas, he added.

While the Russian offtake showed signs of improvement, he admitted to the declining trend in exports to Iraq. “It has been a difficult market and we have encountered payment problems.”

Tea exports to Pakistan have also slipped during the current year, but the country has managed to overcome the mental block about importing teas from India. There is a lot of pent up demand in Karachi and the North West Frontier region.

Reverting to the domestic scenario, he said, “There is a marginal improvement in the per capita consumption (to 3-plus per cent), but the poor consumption in tea-producing regions of Assam and West Bengal is a matter of concern.”

The board has proposed to launch an ‘Iced’ tea campaign soon to trigger consumption.

Banerjee said the new electronic auction system would be introduced in a year’s time.

The consultative committee comprising a technical expert, broker, buyer, vendor and board representative are expected to meet in November for working out the strategy.

The TTAC Chairman, C. Sreedharan, while expressing concern about the poor performance on the export front attributed it to the change in taxation (VAT), appreciating rupee, non-availability of adequate quantities at auctions and difficulties encountered by exporters in realising payments from overseas buyers.

Source: Sify

A positive welcome into China tea market

2007-10-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

Beijing : China has offered a red carpet welcome to Indian tea majors, including Tata Tea, to substantially increase their market presence and investment in the world's most populous nation and break the near monopoly of multinationals like Unilever.

"We welcome more Indian tea companies to China and are willing to offer all assistance to expand their presence in the country's growing tea market," Deputy Executive Director of China Tea Expo (CTE), Wang Tong said.

Tata Tea's foray into China is a good move by the Indian tea giant, Wang said, hoping that more Indian companies would follow suit and explore mutually beneficial business relationship in the country with Chinese tea companies.

In May, Tata Tea signed a joint venture agreement with Zhejiang Tea Import & Export in east China's Zhejiang Province, taking a major step in penetrating the Chinese market.

The joint venture plans to manufacture and market of green tea polyphenols, other green tea extracts, cold and hot water soluble instant tea, liquid tea concentrates and other value added tea beverage products.

Welcoming more Indian participation at the upcoming China Tea Expo 2007 to be held here from October 14 to 17, Wang said the exhibition would be a good opportunity for the Indian tea industry and exporters to meet with their Chinese counterparts and exchange views.

"With the standard of living of Chinese people steadily improving, their tastes are also changing fast," Wang said, noting that black tea is gaining popularity in China which was earlier dominated by locally produced green tea.

According to some estimate, Chinese consume 700,000 tonnes of tea per year.

Wang noted that multinational Unilever, which owns the Lipton brand has been enjoying huge success in China all these years, nearly monopolising the Chinese black tea market.

Unilever has also acquired some tea estates in east China's Anhui Province in an effort to further expand its tea production base, he said.

"If the Indian tea companies, with their exquisite variety of black tea, including Darjeeling tea, enter the Chinese market, I am sure they will also enjoy a good market share," Wang said.

However, he lamented that an experiment done by China Tea Company Limited, the biggest local player, in 2006 to market Indian black tea in China did not succeed.

At the same time, Wang, also General Manager of the state-run China National Native Produce and Animal By-products Import and Export Corporation, noted that the tea industries of China and India lacked proper communication channels to exchange views about market conditions and matters of mutual interest.

Wang said CTE plans to lead a high-level delegation of Chinese tea industry to India in 2008 to explore opportunities for mutually-beneficial cooperation, including finding market for green tea in India.

Source: The Economic Times

Dutch film to promote Indian tea

2007-10-08T03:54:00.000-07:00

A Dutch filmmaker is making a documentary on tea production in north Bengal to help promote Indian tea in the Netherlands and other European Union countries.

“Although the annual per capita consumption of tea in the Netherlands is 3kg (in India it is 750gm), Indian tea has a comparatively small share in it,” said Aad Van Helden, who was here till last week to shoot the documentary. “We intend to promote Indian tea in our country and also in some other European Union nations.”

Aad Van is here as a representative of Solidaritat, a Dutch NGO that has worked in countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa to promote, and sometimes highlight the problems of, plantation crops like banana and coffee.

For the Indian project, Solidaritat has tied up with the Institute of Plantation, Agriculture and Rural Workers (IPARW), a Jalpaiguri-based NGO working for sustainable livelihood of labourers engaged in these areas.

Aad Van’s wife Mieneke is a volunteer of Solidaritat and she came with him to Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri to shoot the 20-minute documentary. “They had been working since September 29 and finished their work on Friday,” said Samir Roy of the IPARW. North Bengal was the only tea producing area in India that the Dutch couple visited, Roy added.

“The target audience of the film will be the common people of India and the European Union, business houses, consumer groups, government officials, small producers and workers,” Roy added.

In course of their nine-day visit, Aad Van and Mieneke interviewed about 40-50 stakeholders of the Indian tea industry, including planters, workers, managing directors of big tea houses and trade union leaders.

“We tried to know from the stakeholders their take on the prospects of Indian tea in the international market. We also asked them about the present situation of tea industry and how they are trying solve the problems that are scourging it,” Aad Van said.

On Saturday, the husband and wife also interviewed Union minister of state for commerce and industry Jairam Ramesh, who arrived in the region primarily to pursue the Centre’s action plan regarding closed tea gardens.

Source: The Telegraph

Tax hike, a big burden on the tea industry

2007-10-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

Guwahati/Silchar : Usually preoccupied with getting bonus payments over with at this time of the year, Assam’s tea industry has found one more reason to be hassled this season.

The cabinet’s decision to hike land revenue by 80 per cent — up from Rs 12 to Rs 22 per bigha in the Brahmaputra Valley and from Rs 9 to Rs 16 in the Barak Valley — has had almost all associations of the industry crying foul. If the hike isn’t annoying enough for an industry looking for relief rather than pain, the government has pegged the rates with retrospective effect from June 2003.

The chairman of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA), Raj Baruah, said the proportion of the hike was absurd and inopportune. “This hike is a big burden on the industry. Many gardens will have no option but to close down.”

The ATPA chief said the industry was already burdened by “mammoth social costs” that the government was loath to reduce.

Baruah’s counterpart in the North East Tea Association, Manoj Jalan, described the hike in land revenue as one of the biggest blows to the crisis-ridden tea industry in recent times. “We will fight against the move. We are not in a position to take such a big burden at this time.”

Jalan said the cabinet’s decision was all the more unfair because governments in other tea-growing states were trying to help the industry come out of a decade-long recession. West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he pointed out, had waived the cess on green leaf recently. “But despite repeated appeals, our government has done nothing and, now, this added burden.”

The secretary of the Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association, Dhiraj Kakoti, said the industry would not take it lying down. “The government cannot take a unilateral decision. The industry should have been consulted on the issue.”

Tea associations intend to get together in this “hour of crisis” and devise a strategy to pressure the government into modifying, if not reversing, the decision.

Government spokesman Himanta Biswa Sarma argued that the hike was “modest” and “mutually agreed upon” during meetings with the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA).

Associations representing plantations in Assam, however, denied that the government ever held discussions with the CCPA on this issue.

Source: The Telegraph

Tea Board signed MoU with Russia

2007-09-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

Moscow : The Tea Board of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Russia's 'Roschaikofe' association to promote export of premium quality tea to this country in an effort to restore the flagging image of the Indian beverage in the local market.

The MoU signed last night by the Chairman of the Tea Board Basudev Banerjee and Ramaz Chanturiya, the General Director of 'Roschaikofe' association of Russian tea and coffee traders and packers, provides for creating favorable conditions for activities of tea organizations to boost trade-turnover.

In a major drive to recapture dominant position lost over last five years to Sri Lanka, the Tea Board Chairman had brought with him over 20-member strong delegation of the Indian industry involved in growing, processing and exporting premium quality traditional tea from Assam, Darjeeling and Nilgiris.

In the Soviet days, India was the largest supplier of black tea to the Russia market. However, since the break up of the USSR the local consumers have shifted their preferences to premium quality orthodox (leaf) tea from CTC (granulated) earlier imported from India in large volumes.

Addressing the Indo-Russian tea traders’ business meet, the Tea Board Chairman underscored that quality has to be priority in exporting tea to Russia.

"Quality is the priority and not quantity and volumes," Banerjee said.

Source: The Economic Times

New Neutralization scheme for tea exporters

2007-09-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

The government is formulating an alternative duty neutralization scheme for tea exporters, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said here Monday. "The new scheme is in the final stage. It will be announced soon," he said, speaking at the 144th annual conference of United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) being held in this southern India tea and coffee growers' hub.

The Duty Entitlement Pass Book Scheme expires on March 31, 2008. The commerce ministry has asked the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the Economic Law Forum to work out an alternative scheme, which will neutralize levies (customs and excise duties along with state levies) while being WTO compatible.

The minister also said that the government would set up a committee within two weeks to look into the problems of small tea growers and suggest remedial measures. The panel will include officials, representatives from the Tea Board and small growers.

Noting that the allocation for the plantation sector had been more than doubled to Rs.30 billion in the 11th Five Year Plan, Kamal Nath said the government would take a decision soon on whether small growers needed a special package or if it was necessary to fix minimum prices.

Source: India Interacts

Tea diversification with the change in law

2007-09-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

Coonoor : India's struggling tea sector is seeking changes in the law to allow for diversification into other crops to fight rising production costs and increase returns, officials said on Monday.

At present laws such as the Plantation labor Act, land reform acts of various states and Minimum Wages Act inhibit diversification and need drastic overhaul, said J.K. Thomas, president of the United Planters' Association of Southern India.

"Even while a plantation commodity is economically inviable, we cannot change over to alternate crop because of the restrictive and archaic laws which have outlived their purpose," he said.

It is high time that necessary legal amendments were brought about for allowing tea estates to diversify into other crops like bamboo, jatropha and palm, Thomas told a planters meet in Coonoor.

Indian tea prices remained almost steady at an average of 65 rupees per kg in the month of July, a gain of one rupee from the same time last year, according to data from the Tea Board.

But prices of other plantations crops such as rubber and coffee have increased 10-20 percent due to higher demand.

"In India the amount of money spent on wages and labor welfare are higher than other emerging countries like Vietnam," Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of the state-run Tea Board of India, told Reuters.

India, the world's largest producer and consumer of tea, has strong regulations to protect workers' rights and employees have powerful unions, which often guarantee them free electricity, water and food as part of their salary packages.

The area under tea plantation is estimated at about 521,500 hectares. About 130,000 growers and 1.26 million workers are associated with the industry.

Source: Reuters India

Flood affects tea gardens in Assam

2007-09-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Guwahati , Assam : Stranded without supplies for a fortnight, as many as eight tea estates in Assam’s flood-ravaged Barak Valley have shut down and many more could cease production over the next few days.

There has been no rail communication between the Barak Valley and the rest of the state since June 25, when a bridge near Lumding collapsed under the weight of a freight train. A fortnight ago, a massive landslide cut off the land route, too. The landslide at Sonapur in Meghalaya blocked a 300-metre stretch of National Highway 44, the valley’s lifeline.

Floods compounded the crisis, damaging interior roads linking estates in Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts beyond repair. The swirling waters of the Barak and its tributaries also caused extensive damage to tea bushes in about 30 plantations.

Tea estates of the valley today sent an SOS to the Tarun Gogoi government through their associations.

The secretary of the Tea Association of India (TAI) in Guwahati, D. Deka, told the Telegraph that most estates would close down unless the government intervened. “Plantations have had no rations, fuel and other items required to run a tea estate for a fortnight. The Barak Valley tea industry is truly in dire straits.”

About 60 of the 100-odd Barak gardens are affiliated to the association.

Their worst fear is not being able to pay Puja bonus to workers, leading to a potentially violent labour unrest. “We haven’t sold any tea in recent weeks, which has reduced cash flow to a trickle. We cannot pay bonus from empty coffers, can we?” a tea estate manager asked.

Since factories are not running, plucking has had to be stopped, too. Tea leaves have to be processed within a maximum of 20 hours of plucking to produce tea of good quality.

Deka said the number of trucks being allowed to ply on the damaged highway was inadequate for an industry that required a healthy supply chain. “The magnitude of the crisis would have been less had the rail network been functioning. Since trains are the main source of transport to these gardens, supplies have been erratic ever since the rail bridge near Lumding collapsed.”

Member estates of the TAI procure 4,906 quintals of rice and 3,720 quintals of wheat from the Food Corporation of India every month for distribution among their workers. Plantations affiliated to the Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association procure 4,030 quintals of rice and 2,770 quintals of wheat.

The bulk of these consignments is ferried to the valley by train.

“It is impossible to carry such huge quantities of food by trucks on a hilly road,” an official said.

The FCI has only one warehouse, in Silchar town of Cachar, for the entire valley.

Sources in Northeast Frontier Railway said repairs on the damaged rail bridge would not be completed until October.

Source: The Telegraph

International tea producer's forum set up

2007-09-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Bangalore : The world's leading tea-growing countries have decided to launch an International Tea Producers' Forum (ITPF), the equivalent of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries, the International Coffee Organisation and the Association of National Rubber Producing Countries.

The decision to set up ITPF was taken in principle on the sidelines of the just concluded International Tea Convention in Colombo. The meeting was attended by the 14 leading tea-producing nations, including India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Malawi, Tanzania and Japan. The modalities and the by-laws will be finalised at the India International Tea Festival in Guwahati this November.

Tea Board vice-chairman and United Planters' Association of Southern India (Upasi) president J K Thomas told on Monday that one of the key objectives behind the setting up of ITPF was to address the problem of a global surplus, expected to continue till 2014 by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization's Inter-Governmental Group on Tea.

ITPF is looking at boosting demand in both producing and populous markets, particularly developing nations like India (which has a per capita consumption of 690 gm) and China (below 600 gm), compared to 1.4 kg in Sri Lanka and 1 kg in Pakistan. India's present annual consumption is around 725 million kg and a production of 950 million kg. ITPF will seek to enhance consumption through generic promotion and by emphasising the health benefits of tea.

ITPF will also look at the possibility of curtailing expansion. ITPF will try and recommend other alternative crops to tea, depending on the cultivation pattern in each tea- producing country.

ITPF will also focus on the stringent maximum residue levels (MRLs) for pesticides and chemicals adopted by leading tea-importing markets like the EU, the US, Canada and Japan. Canada is even said to be considering a zero-tolerance MRL norm for tea imports. Some tea-producing nations have pointed out that the MRLs for tea are much lower than for other produce like fruit and vegetables in these very markets.

Source: The Economic Times

Assam Tea coin in Canada

2007-09-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

Guwahati , Assam : At a time when the tea sector is passing through rough patches, traditional communities engaged in brewing tea are experimenting with innovative tea products and methods.

The Singpho community, which is credited for being pioneers in the discovery of tea, have developed “Tea Coin”. This organic tea has already hit the stands of Canadian tea market and now the growers are making attempts to export it to the US.

Tea Coin is sold in Canadian market under the brand name of 'Phalap', as tea is known as phalap in Singpho language. Two gram of tea are packed in coin shape, which can be consumed by dissolving in hot water.

Tea Coin is marketed by Small Tea Co-operative, a Canada-based company. Rajesh Singpho, managing partner of an Assam-based firm, Singpho agro products, told ET: "Consignment comprising 10,000 pieces of Tea Coin have been sent to Canada. We have very good feedback from the customers. We have found that there is market for this variety of tea there. We have received feedback from North American companies on our traditional tea and they are keen to import Singpho tea.” He added tea manufactured in Margherita in Upper Assam, the heartland of this community, is based on the traditional method. It is chemical-free. Even the tea containers are made of bamboo which helps in retaining the aroma. “We produce tea without using modern machine that keeps entire nutrients of tea intact. From two grams of tea, at least two to four cups of tea can be prepared."

Mr Singpho further said about 200 young people are involved in tea farming. "We are presently plucking tea from around 100 bighas. We had a marathon presentation before the tea experts in Canada to establish our brand and we are now planning to expand our market in other places."

According to historical sources, it was in 1823 that Robert Bruce, a British trader, first discovered tea plants with the help of a local Singpho Bisagam chieftain.

Before his death in 1825, Bruce passed on his knowledge to his brother Charles, who sent seeds of the plant to Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1831.

In 1833, the British lost the monopoly of tea trade with China and the tea committee dispatched secretary George Gordon to China to study the methods and begin tea plantation in Assam.

Gordon returned with the Chinese variety of tea and workers and imported labour from Bihar and Orissa. It was found that the local variety of the plant was more suited to the climate. Crossing it with the Chinese tea plant led to Indian hybrid tea, which has great variability and vigour. This has been called the most important evolution of the commercial tea planting.

Before the discovery, tea plants used to grow in the jungles with local people eating the leaves as a vegetable with garlic. After Robert’s death, his plan to establish a nursery was followed up his brother Charles who was then an employee of the East India Company. On May 8, 1838, 350 pounds (159 kg) of Assam tea were dispatched to London and sold at India House on January 10, 1839.

Source: The Economic Times

Fight back strategy to boost production and sales

2007-09-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

Guwahati , (AFP) : India's hard-hit tea industry has launched an aggressive "fight back" strategy to boost production and sales in the face of stiff challenges from rival nations churning out cheaper brews.

India is the world's second largest tea producer and Rangup a record 955 million kilogram (2,105 pound) crop last year with northeastern Assam state accounting for 55 percent.

China, the largest producer of the brew, made 1.02 billion kilos in 2006.

But prices have been under pressure since the 1990s.

"The new tea strategy now is to chase both volume and value in exports. We're getting positive results and 2007 is turning out to be a good year for tea," India's junior commerce minister Jairam Ramesh told AFP.

As part of its campaign to boost production and quality, New Delhi launched in June a 48-billion-rupee (1.2-billion-dollar) package to help the beleaguered industry replant aging tea bushes.

"The Special Purpose Tea Fund is a project covering about 200,000 hectares (494,210 acres) in 1,000 of India?s nearly 1,600 plantations," Ramesh said.

India?s production is expected to jump by close to 40 percent once aging bushes over 50 years old are replanted or rejuvenated -- a process involving cutting or pruning, officials said.

"We will also plant high-yielding clones which would nearly double production and give us premium tea," Dhiraj Kakaty, an official of the Indian Tea Association, the top tea administration body, said.

India?s 1.5-billion-dollar-a-year tea industry has been facing a crisis with prices dropping in weekly auctions since 1998 and exports plummeting.

The industry now is showing signs of resurgence, officials said in Assam, which has over 800 plantations that employ around one million people.

A kilogram of good quality tea fetched 73 rupees in recent weekly auctions compared to an average 68 rupees last year. And exports rose by eight million kilograms to 200 million kilograms in 2006 from the previous year.

"These are good indicators and we're sure prices will firm and exports increase," the minister said.

Prices, however, are still below those fetched in the late 1990s when a kilogram of good quality tea from Assam or South India got 95 to 100 rupees.

The slump in prices and exports is largely attributed to cheap, inferior quality teas produced by many new growers like Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Iran. This has meant Indian teas are facing stiffer competition in the global market.

"(But) the overall mood is vibrant with the Indian tea industry now beginning to look up," the tea association's Kakaty said.

"Overseas demand is on the increase mainly due to very good quality teas produced by us," he said. Pakistan, Egypt, Iran and Iraq and countries in the Middle East figure prominently in the export list.

Spurred by recent successes in boosting foreign buyer interest, India's commerce ministry is organizing a three-day International Tea Festival in Guwahati, the main city of Assam, in November.

The festival, dubbed the "Great Indian Tea Party," is expected to draw foreign buyers with 400 delegates set to arrive from around the world, including from Britain, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt.

Apart from meetings to showcase different kinds of Indian teas, the festival will also offer delegates a treat -- a tea made by Assam's Singpho tribal people.

Long before commercial production began in the late 1830s, tea plants grew wild in Assam's jungles. Singpho tribe members ate the leaves as a vegetable with garlic and also drank water brewed with the leaves.

Source: Google News

Insurance cover for tea growers

2007-09-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

Coonoor : Indcoserve, the apex body of the various industrial co-operative tea factories called the Indco factories, has decided to cover the members of these factories under a new insurance scheme being mooted by the Tea Board.

The scheme including life, medical, accident and education is expected to benefit some 20,000 small growers. The insurance companies have come out with attractive packages whereby a group of five members in a family is covered for at least Rs 30,000 per year in the best hospitals of the Nilgiris, Coimbatore and nearby districts.

The annual premium involved is just a few hundred rupees, said R.D. Nazeem, Executive Director, Tea Board. Tea Board would pay a part of the premium.

Source: Sify.com

Ninety million dollar investment in Ethiopian tea

2007-08-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP), an Indian company, says it will invest more than 90 million dollars (N11.5 billion ) in Ethiopia to develop 10.000 hectares of tea plantation.

Commodity Online reports from India that KDHP officials said while the new project would have a 70:30 debt equity ratio, some foreign private companies have shown interest in the venture.

The participation of Tata Tea, which already holds 20 per cent equity in KDHP, would also be sought.

The debt component would be raised from Ethiopian banks, which have also shown interest in the project.

The aerial survey of the land have been completed along with queries on the employment and economic generation potential of the project.

According to KDHP officials, the project would create direct employment for close to 10,000 people and accelerate export and economic development in the region.

The land, which is given on a 90-year lease, will command a very nominal rent.

The suitability of the land is attested to by its proximity to Kenya and Tanzania, which are traditional tea growing countries.

The company is in the process of preparing a detailed project report.

KDHP succeeded Tata Tea Limited on April 1, 2005 when the latter exited most of its plantations in Munnar, to focus on the growth of its branded tea business.

Source: The Tide Online

Plantation Labor Act for major changes

2007-08-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Plantation labor Act 1951 is set for major changes. The inter-ministerial and intra-ministerial review committees formed by the Union ministry of commerce & industry and the labor ministry respectively, have narrowed in on the desired changes and the amendment bill is expected to come up in the Winter Session of the Parliament.

One of the proposed changes in the PL Act that enjoys the consent of both the review committees, is in the definition of "employer" with regard to the plantation industries. As of now, in the PL Act terminology, "employer" refers to one in command of the affairs of a plantation, practically the manager of a tea estate.

It has been proposed that the term "employer" be modified to include the lessee, partners and MD of a plantation in its ambit, as the manager is often a paid staff and not a owner.

"The proposed change, which would definitely sail through, would be a major step towards protecting the interests of plantation workers. For, the estate owners would not be able to shift the responsibility on managers and thus would become accountable to the workforce," said Mr Aloke Chakravorty, the workers' representative in the Union commerce & industry ministry's review committee.

The other major changes proposed are, extension of the employees' state insurance facility to the plantation workers, inclusion of contract workers in the scope of plantation workers by raising the wage ceiling to Rs 6,500 per month and inclusion of a widow sister in the scope of family of a plantation worker.

The commerce & industry ministry review committee, headed by Mr OP Arya, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce, has met five times so far to formulate the proposed amendments. Another crucial meeting of the review committee is scheduled tomorrow at Udyog Bhawan in New Delhi, which is likely to come up with the final draft proposal for the much-awaited amendment to the Plantation labor Act 1951.

Source: The Statesman

Tea worker starvation deaths

2007-08-28T03:33:00.000-07:00

Kalavati Barai of Raipur Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri has been watching the consistent deterioration of her family of six over the past four years. In March this year, her husband succumbed to severe anaemia and related complications. “I couldn’t feed him, so he died,” she states simply. Since the tea garden was abandoned by its owners in 2003, they have been subsisting largely on one meal of rice a day. Kalavati’s youngest son, 13-year-old Kartik, is now severely ill but she can’t afford his medicines. “He hasn’t been to school for three years now. The doctor says his kidney is damaged. What do I give him? I have nothing.” There are several others like her who are suffering because of closure of 14 tea gardens in North Bengal in 2003-04.

Most of the gardens closed after production fell and profits plummeted due to low yields from ageing tea bushes. Several gardens were abandoned by their owners, leaving behind large debts and dues of Rs 18. 69 crore in workers’ provident funds. More than 17,000 workers at these tea estates have been struggling; there are no other means of livelihood. An estimated 1,000 people—workers and family members—have died of malnutrition and related diseases since 2003 in the Dooars region.

The governor of the state, Gopal Gandhi, expressed shock four months ago at the dire situation of tea estate workers. The media in the state has regularly covered the workers’ plight, leading to red faces in the Left Front government of West Bengal as well as the Centre. The much-awaited response came on July 7 from the Tea Board of India, the Union ministry of commerce’s regulatory body on tea trade: an ultimatum to the 14 estate owners to reopen the plantations within a month, failing which the Centre would take over their estates and hand them over to new owners. The estate owners have until mid-August to respond to this ultimatum. Talks between government and tea industry officials also produced a package of Rs 119 crore to revive the tea industry. A senior tea board official said the package in June 2007, includes:

a five-year moratorium on damages for defaulting on provident fund and gratuity payments
waiver of all loans from the tea board and soft loans for five or six year terms to help with replantation
rejuvenation of old tea bushes

Surviving on rats
“No other organised sector has seen so many deaths from chronic malnutrition before,” says Anuradha Talwar of the West Bengal Network for Right to Food and Work, which has estimated the death count of 1,000 in its study. It found workers were eating wild grass, leaves and rats to survive. A survey by Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti, a farm workers’ union, found the workers surviving on as little as 200 calories per day, compared to 1,000-2,900 calories before the estates closed down. An average adult is believed to require at least 850 calories per day.

The state government denies that food scarcity is responsible for the deaths; it did acknowledge in June that 571 people had died at the gardens between January 2006 and March 2007. The state health department had a long cause list for the deaths. It included tuberculosis, meningitis, cancer, malaria, hepatitis and septicaemia. It did not mention what is common knowledge: lack of nutrition makes the sick more vulnerable. Forty-six of those who died were children below the age of 10, and 465 died at home, unable to afford trips to a healthcare facility.

The media outcry led to the administration and several ngos distributing food and medicines, and conducting health camps in badly hit estates like Ramjhora and Bharnobari in Siliguri. Debashis Chakrobarty of Siliguri Welfare Organisation, a voluntary health service outfit, said the efforts are vastly inadequate.

In April, the state had announced a special interim grant of Rs 16 crore for the closed gardens as a stopgap solution while negotiations were going on. Media reports claimed little of this has reached the workers.

Most of the affected gardens are far from towns and villages, limiting employment options and healthcare services for the unskilled workers. Public transport to towns is infrequent and expensive—it costs Rs 60 for a 30-km bus trip to Jalpaiguri town from Raipur. The Plantation Labour Act of 1951 makes it the estate owners’ responsibility to provide the workers basic needs—food, education, healthcare. With the tea estates becoming unprofitable after the late 1990s, the owners abandoned their responsibility.

Ownership crises
Most estates are now run by ad hoc management committees set up by local trade unions. “We depend entirely on nature now,” says Kajal Ghosh, a former supervisor at Raipur tea estate, now helping out the committee. “December-March is the lean period when plucking is stopped, to start again in April. Things are a little better during the monsoon, and we can pay regular wages.”

The committees lack the expertise to run the processing plants, which can’t run anyway after the water and power connections were cut due to unpaid dues. So, the picked tea leaves are sold to the processing factories that have cropped up in the region. The day’s earnings are divided up among the workers. With no resources to spend on protection of the tea bushes, output is low. Workers pick about 3-4 kg of leaves per person per day, which was 10-12 kg earlier. The daily earnings vary from Rs 5-10 to nothing a day. Then, there are allegations against the committees, too. At the Kalchini Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri, the committee members have been accused of embezzling funds.

Compromised from all sides, workers are forced to sell household items, or crush stones in nearby riverbeds for daily wages. There are also occasional jobs of digging drains and widening roads under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (nrega). Officials claim the state government is carrying out several work-for-food schemes and distributing food for the children and the aged.

But the effectiveness of these schemes is questioned. A National Legal Services Authority report submitted to the prime minister and the chief justice says there is “rank mismanagement in distribution of job cards, pensions and the 100-day work scheme”. It says the workers’ are going hungry because of unemployment, absence of alternative income opportunities and limited access to social justice schemes.

Estate employees such as Ghosh have repeatedly suggested nrega funds would be better utilised to on running the gardens instead of peripheral development work. At Dehklapara Tea Estate near the Indo-Bhutanese border, also closed since 2003, an emaciated Rita Sonal has been given a job under nrega: cutting hard mud with a spade and loading it on to trucks. Though glad to have a job, Sonal has a hard time. “We don’t have strength left in our bodies for this kind of heavy work,” she says.

A troubled brew
The first wave of tea garden closures in North Bengal began in the late 1990s after managements shut down operations citing poor economic viability. There are an estimated 160 tea plantations in North Bengal, which account for about 30 per cent of India’s annual tea production of about 823 million kg. India is the world’s largest tea producer, but industry insiders say its us $1.5 billion a year tea business has been suffering over the past decade following a crash in tea auction prices and a slump in leaf exports.

According to a status paper by the Tea Association of India, declining productivity, rising input costs, low level of labour output and age profile of tea bushes contributed most to the decline of the industry. The North Bengal gardens, whose leaves were once considered among the best in the country, have been the worst hit.

Some garden owners, like Robin Pal of the Redbank group in Jalpaiguri, blame trade unions for the crisis, saying they made impossible demands regarding wages and benefits at a time when business was suffering. But others, like Sanjay Bansal of the Ambootia group point to other reasons: bad management practices, owners siphoning off money instead of investing it in the gardens, overuse of pesticides and indisciplined workers.

The other cause for decline is the proliferation of small growers and ‘bought leaf’ factories since the 1980s, says Naba Dutta of Nagrik Mancha, a Kolkata-based citizen’s group that investigates labour issues. According to government records, there are 6,000 small tea growers in Bengal (though the United Forum of Small Tea Growers’ Association pegs it at 15,000). These gardens, industry watchers say, has done more harm than good for the local tea business. They are run by businessmen interested only in quick profits, who don’t know the specifics of tea growing and don’t concern themselves much with quality control. As a result, the industry’s reputation has suffered. Both Dutta and Bansal believe the situation can be corrected by recognising that the bought leaf sector is the nemesis of the tea industry, work on making the soil healthy again, and by treating workers as assets.

Dutta goes a step further and insists that though there’s a general idea that the entire tea industry in the country is ailing, nothing could be further from the truth. “A simple example – the price of tea hasn’t reduced in the domestic market,” he says. “Tea garden owners say that the market is fallen, consumption is decreasing, that young generation is drinking cold drinks, but a recent Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, study has projected total domestic consumption of tea has increased from 737.13 million kg in 2006 to 789.49 million kg in 2007,” he says. The study projects consumption will increase further to 867 million kg by 2009. Also, only 30 per cent of tea produced comes to auction houses on which accounting of a garden’s profit is measured, so can never really know the actual profit/loss margin, he says. Dutta believes the current crisis developed because many garden owners are using their estates to take out huge loans and invest the money in other businesses rather than in the upkeep of the gardens and the workforce. Nagrik Mancha and several civil and labour rights’ groups are conducting an independent study into the “real cause” of the garden closures.

Ethnicity of the workers has also been a crucial reason why this abysmal situation has been allowed to drag on for so long, human rights activists allege. More than 85 per cent of the workers are tribals—fourth generation immigrants of migrants brought in by the British from Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh or low-caste refugees from Bangladesh’s Jassore, Khulna and Barishal regions. A largely marginalised group, they lack the education or organisation to fight for their rights. Even when the estates are open, their daily cash wage is about Rs 48 and their standard of living is pathetically low. The trade unions, that purport to fight for their rights, have been so busy fighting among themselves and with the management, that they’ve paid scant attention to ensuring relief measures for workers at the closed gardens.

But anger at the injustice done to them is slowly building up among workers.

At Dehklapara Tea Estate, Dharamveer Bikuda, a young worker, threatens that if no action is taken soon, he and his friends will start blocking roads and robbing rich people driving by in cars. “We can’t go hungry for ever,” he says.

By Maureen Nandini Mitra
Source: Down To Earth

Tea meet apprehensions

2007-08-28T03:16:00.000-07:00

Guwahati , Assam : The Assam Tea Tribes Students Association has expressed apprehensions that the International Tea Convention, slated to be held in November, could end up doing more harm than good for the image of the state as well as the tea industry.

“When foreign delegates visit tea gardens — as they are scheduled to do — they will see for themselves the unhygienic living conditions of the tea garden laborers. This will not only give Assam a bad name, it might even have an adverse impact on business,” association general secretary Pallab Das said.

He pointed out that many developed countries just might not want to buy tea from a place where laborers lived and worked in such unhygienic conditions.

“These countries are very sensitive to such issues,” he argued, adding that given the tough competition faced by Indian tea in the international market, projection of such an image could very well ring the death knell for the industry.

Assam will host the International Tea Convention for the first time this year. The four-day convention will be held simultaneously in Guwahati and Jorhat.

A host of foreign delegates is expected to participate in the event. Hollywood actress Julie Christie, who was born in a tea estate in Assam, will be the guest of honor.

Source: The Telegraph

Ceylon teas in Bangalore

2007-08-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Bangalore : Our island neighbour of Sri Lanka is known for its top quality tea and one of its best known brands, Hyson Tea, has come to Bangalore. Twelve different flavours of tea will be distributed by Lekkad Exports and Events Pvt. Ltd across the country. At the media launch of Hyson Tea here on Friday, Hyson Tea Marketing Manager Sahampathy Dissanayake said his brand has a wide range of value added products to every taste, culture, mood and moment. Hyson Teas Pvt., Ltd., has been exporting Ceylon tea to over 25 countries, he added.

Mr. Dissanayake said that Hyson’s team of professionals and dynamic tea traders possess a collective experience of many years in international tea testing, blending, grading and trading. The tea comes in diverse forms of packets, tea bags, metal tins, gift items and canisters containing a variety of black and green teas ranging from regular, flavoured, fruit, specialty blends, herbal, cocktail and liquor teas.

Lekkad Director Sagar Lekkad said initially they would import Hyson tea in teabags (of two gram each) and their target would be major corporate houses. Later, they would also import loose tea, he added. The official launch will take place on Saturday with the Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajashekharan releasing the Hyson tea products.

Source: The Hindu

Tea to get e-auctions soon

2007-08-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Kochi : Soon, e-auction will be introduced in tea, chilli and tobacco. Inaugurating the country’s first e-auction in cardamom at Bodinaikkanur on Thursday, Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh said e-auction in tea will begin in September. The Spices Board will take care of the e-auction in chilli, he said.

He said e-auction in cardamom would help in stabilising prices and improve the financial conditions of farmers. The present system of payment to the farmers on 21st day by the auction centres will be changed to payment in 14 days, for which auction rules will be amended by the Spices Board. All farmers will also be given identity cards, he said.

The e-auction centre in Bodinaikkanur will be a standalone system with a local area networking of auction centres. The Spices Board will extend the e-auction facility to the other existing auction centres in Kerala.

Mr Ramesh said a Rs 2-crore facility will be set up for cardamom processing and grading in Bodinaikkanur to ensure clean and graded spices. He also said that the commerce ministry will set up spice parks for turmeric in Erode, for cardamom and pepper in Idukki, for mint in UP and for chilli in Guntur.

Source: The Economic Times

Naga blow to tea growers

2007-08-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

Guwahati , Assam : Phuleswar Gogoi has procured a land acquisition certificate from the government and is all set to apply for Tea Board benefits to develop his 70-bigha tea estate located in Jorhat district along the Assam-Nagaland boundary. But a letter from the neighbouring state has jeopardised his plans.

“Why are agricultural activities being taken up in these areas meant for jhum cultivation without prior permission from Nagaland?” the letter sent to him by Leriman Basti village council in Nagaland asked and directed him to stop tea cultivation by today.

“Who would want to invest in a tea estate having an uncertain future? What will happen if the Nagas take possession of the tea estate tomorrow?” Gogoi, the president of the Seleng unit of the Small Tea Growers Association, said.

Gogoi said the council had sent letters to seven small tea growers about 15 days ago. The letters have made all the small tea growers along the Assam-Nagaland boundary jittery about their future.

Most of these tea estates have come up on government land in the past two decades.

The All Assam Students Union (AASU), which has been spearheading the state’s fight against encroachment of land by neighbouring states, today staged a four-hour sit-in at Seleng Chariali, under Teok police station, to demand security for the small tea growers.

The Jorhat unit president of AASU, Biren Saikia, said small tea growers in the bordering areas should be encouraged since they were the ones keeping Naga encroachers at bay by taking up cultivation.

“It is unfortunate that the government is a mute spectator to such threatening letters from across the border,” he said.

Saikia said Nagaland has also asked Laujan High School authorities to hand over the school to Nagaland.

Purna Phukon, another small tea grower, said he had struggled to procure the last possession certificate and had begun the process to apply for Tea Board benefits. But the letter had jeopardised his plans.

With the small growers coming up as big players in the Assam tea industry, the commerce ministry has given stress on developing this sector. It directed the government to issue land acquisition certificates to small tea growers so that they could reap the benefits from the Tea Board.

Gogoi said he has apprised the border peace committee, comprising representatives from Nagaland and Assam, about the letter.

He, however, expressed doubts that he would get any support. “What is the use of having a peace committee when we receive such threatening letters from across the border?” he asked.

Source: The Telegraph

12 varieties of Jap Tea included on demand for Japanese delegates

2007-08-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

New Delhi : When Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe comes calling today — leading a 140-plus delegation from his country — he is likely to feel more at home than he may have expected. Japan, after all, is quite the flavour-of-the-moment at the luxury hotel in New Delhi where the premier and the delegates are putting up.

Right from making sure that the okayu, or rice porridge (a special request apparently), is on the breakfast table for the PM along with elaborate omelettes, folded several times over and layered with the likes of nori sheets and flaked dry fish, to flying in 60 kg of fish from Tokyo, the hotel seems to have spared no effort in making its guests welcome.

A Japanese chef is being flown down from the hotel chain’s trendy Japanese restaurant in Mumbai, and apart from the likes of steamed black cod on the menu, the prime minister and his spouse will also be treated to some special creations.

On the other hand, it is not yet sure — breakfast apart — how many meals the couple will actually be having at the hotel. However, since “the news has filtered in” that they also like curries, the Indian kitchen has been kept in readiness. On the menu are chicken curry, mutton biryani and the master chef’s trademark galauti kebabs.

And if the visitors call for some beverage, a Japanese tea festival is fortunately underway too. About 12 varities of Japanese tea are on offer including Sencha, the most popular type, Macha, or powdered green tea, Hoji Cha, roasted leaf, and Genmaicha that is rice-flavoured. If you fancy a discerning sip, the hotel is likely to resemble a fortress these few days.

The prime minister and his wife are, of course, going to be put up in the super-plush presidential suite of the hotel, amongst the best in the country with its Napolean chairs, original artwork, gold-plated cutlery, IBM thinkpads, digital phones, weatherproof speakers in the bathroom, treadmill and the like.

A bevy of heads-of-states and corporate heads have availed of all these in the last few years but unlike the demands of some, the hotel says it has not received requests for anything special this time round — apart from the porridge.

One request, however, is to arrange for a ladies’ lunch at a tony club within the hotel to be hosted by Mrs Abe.

Needless to say, this too will be an all-Japanese affair but the menu, according to its executive chef, seems to be a trifle more eclectic: Green tea-flavoured noodles and, hold your breath, wasabi-flavoured creme brulee (all specials from the Mumbai restaurant)! Some would call it lunch diplomacy.

Source: Business Standard

Tea leaves fallen prices tough on tea growers

2007-08-21T04:35:00.000-07:00

Over 8,000 small tea cultivators in north Dinajpur district of West Bengal face the risk of running an unviable business as prices of green leaf have fallen by Rs seven to Rs four a kilo.

"The small growers who used to supply their produce to the bought leaf factories got rupees 11 per kilo for their produce even a couple of months ago," Assistant Secretary of North Bengal Small Tea Planters Association Ratan Saha said.

"Now they are being offered four rupees per kilo which is even less then their production costs", he said.

"Many small growers who had invested their entire savings were left with no no option but to close the gardens," General secetary of Uttar Dinajpur Small Tea Growers' Welfare Association, Debasish Paul told newsmen here.

Source: Press Trust of India

Closed tea gardens to get new owners

2007-08-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Kochi : For the first time in 54 years, the commerce ministry has set in motion the process for identifying buyers for the 24 closed tea gardens across West Bengal, Kerala and Assam after taking them over by early September.

The commerce department, through an order from director Raj Singh, has set up a committee to evaluate the proposals to be received for change in management of the closed tea estates, 13 in Bengal, nine in Kerala and two in Assam.

The ministry has already issued notices to the owners under Section 16(E) of the Tea Act, 1953, which states that if a garden remains closed for more than three months, the government has the power to take over them without investigation and find a new owner.

Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for commerce, said that talks with the owners of the other closed tea estates seem to have reached a dead end, forcing the ministry to invoke Section 16(E). “Section 16(E) has never been invoked in the last 54 years. There are no set procedures and we will be writing on a clean slate,” the minister noted.

The owners of the closed gardens have been given time until end of August to identify new owners or reopen them. Or else they will be taken over by the government which will pass over the management to new buyers.

Through the latest order of 16 August, a committee headed by O.P. Arya, additional commerce secretary (plantations) has been formed to evaluate the bids of those who intend to take over the estates. Others in the committee include Basudev Banerjee, chairman of the Tea Board, the government’s trade promotion body, the chief secretaries and the finance secretaries of Bengal, Kerala and Assam and Sutanu Behuria, additional secretary in the commerce department.

The crisis in the tea sector in early 2000 when prices plunged led to the estate closures. Of the 14 estates that closed in Bengal between 2001 and 2003, only one has reopened. In Kerala, though 23 estates had closed between 2000 and 2003, six of them reopened by 2003. Attempts by the commerce ministry and the Tea Board of India, begun nearly 10 months ago, led to the reopening of eight of the closed gardens by April.
Ramesh said that in the Ramjorah estate in Bengal, the lease period had ended and so the government was free to invite bids for takeover. In the case of a few other estates, such as Chamurchi, the owners had identified prospective buyers.

“The process of reopening closed tea estates in Kerala is proving to be less cumbersome, compared to Bengal,” added Ramesh. This was mainly owing to some of the estates having common owners. The four estates of the Ram Bahadur Thakur Group (1) had reopened, including a factory of the group. However, the reopening of the five estates of the RBT Group (2) look remote though talks have been held with the owners. Manoj Sharma, chief executive officer of the RBT(1) had earlier expressed willingness to take over the management of the other five estates. Three MMJ estates of the Manarcaud family had also opened with a factory slated to open in2008.

Ramesh said that most of the closed estates in Kerala were in Peerumedu in Idukki district, which were suitable for manufacture of high quality orthodox tea that had high demand abroad and the owners were being requested to look at shifting from the manufacture of cheaper CTC (cut, tear and curl) teas. The government has readied a Rs60 crore relief package for the closed estates, which includes waiving all dues to the tea board and defaults under the provident fund. Loans from banks and other institutions of about Rs58 crore are to rescheduled with penalties written off.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Domestic tea price unaffected by slowdown in tea exports

2007-08-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Mumbai : Expectations of a slowdown in tea exports are unlikely to hurt prices of the commodity in the domestic market.

Exports presently constitute less than 26 per cent of the domestic tea production. A high domestic demand, coupled with the low opening stock, is expected to keep the domestic market for tea tight, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent think-tank.

Tea prices have been steadily increasing in the past few months from Rs 61.12 per kg in January 2007 to Rs 65.07 per kg in April 2007 and rose to a peak of Rs 71.92 per kg in July. Earlier, the prices had picked to Rs 70.98 per kg in September 2006.

Exports of tea rose by a robust 64.2 per cent to 56.8 million kgs during January-March 2007. However, CMIE expects exports to remain subdued in the coming months because of the strengthening of the Indian rupee against the US dollar.

The tea industry is also likely to miss the target of 210 million kgs exports this year, CMIE said.
The reasons for the drop in exports are also attributed to decreased exports to Iraq due to payment problems. The appreciation of the rupee has resulted in a loss of Rs 4-5 per kg of tea exports. Tea exports to violence-affected Iraq have declined to 3.35 million kgs in Jan-Apr 2007 from 10.54 million kgs in Jan-Apr 2006.

India's tea production declined by 2.4 per cent in Assam and 3.1 per cent in the South. The country produced only 334.7 million kgs of tea during January-June 2007, almost equal to the amount produced in the same period of the previous year.

Industry had forecast tea output to rise by three per cent to 984.6 million kgs in 2007. However, looking at the current sluggish trend and adverse weather conditions in Assam and Nilgiris, it is feared that the actual production may turn out to be a little lower than the forecast.

Between January and June this year, the country's tea production increased by a meagre 0.01 per cent at 3,34,710 tonnes, up from 3,34,669 tonnes in the same period of last year, according to statistics compiled by CMIE.

The country's largest tea producing region, Northern India, registered 1.58 per cent jump in production to 2,25,336 tonnes in January-June 2007 from 2,21,826 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

West Bengal registered 10.11 per cent jump in production at 77,149 tonnes during January-June 2007 as against 70,066 tonnes in same period last year. However, Assam reported a decline by 2.42 per cent at 1,46,372 tonnes in the six months period ended June 2007 from 1,50,004 tonnes.

Southern India also posted 3.07 per cent decline in tea production at 1,09,374 tonnes in January-June 2007. Kerala's tea output dipped sharply by 11.80 per cent, from 35,539 tonnes to 31,344 tonnes in January-June 2007.

Karnataka reported a 5.48 jump in production at 2,617 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 0.79 per cent at 75,413 tonnes in the six months period ended June 2007.

Source: The Economic Times

Mixed Prices at Coimbatore tea auction

2007-08-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

Coimbatore : Mixed price trend persisted in the Coimbatore tea auction held last week, with leaf teas quoting dearer by Re 1 to Rs 4 a kg and dust selling Re 1 to Rs 2 easier per Kg, industry sources said on Monday.

With shippers to CIS Countries operating with fair strength in the orthodox leaf grade, a few larger teas and brokens were well-appreciated in value by Rs 3 to Rs 4 per kg, while fair demand made brighter liquoring CTC leaf rule from steady to occasionally dearer by Rs 1.50. Other CTC leaf quoted easier by Re 1, the sources said.

Limited quantity of medium orthodox were sold at Re 1 to Rs 2 easier levels, whereas fair demand for selected high priced popular marks and good medium CTC dust quoted dearer by Re 1 and medium and plainer teas quoted easier by Re 1.

Orthodox high grown brokens quoted at Rs 64 to Rs 82 and fanning Rs 50 to Rs 65, good CTC brokens Rs 43 to Rs 50, fanning Rs 45 to Rs 42 and medium CTC brokens Rs 35 to Rs 41 and fanning Rs 35 to Rs 42.

Best CTC dust quoted Rs 58 to Rs 66, good Rs 47 to Rs 58, medium CTC dust Rs 38 to Rs 44 and medium orthodox dust Rs 35 to Rs 41 per Kg.

Of the total offerings of about 5.44 lakh kg, dust comprised 3.26 lakh kg, sources said.

Source: The Hindu

Bad weather and pest attacks on tea

2007-08-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

Unpredictable weather and rampant pest attacks have left tea planters calculating the losses of the past few months.

Bouts of incessant rain between May and August alternating with sunshine and temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius have led to a loss of production by 10-20 per cent in the Dooars and the Terai.

Prabir Bhattacharjee, the secretary of the Dooars branch of Indian Tea Association, said: “A drop of 10.36 per cent in production has been noticed in this period. In July this year, an unprecedented rainfall of 47.09 inches was recorded as against 25.87 inches last time.”

“Even during the first fortnight of August, it didn’t change much. We doubt if the losses can be made up by October after which the lean period starts,” said Bhattacharjee.

Equally alarming is the pest attack. A.K. Chatterjee, the manager of Pahargoomia tea estate in the Terai, claimed that the garden has suffered a loss of 10-15 per cent. “And it can’t be compensated,” he added.

R.K. Rungta, manager, Kurti Tea Estate, pegged the loss from pests between 5 and 25 per cent across north Bengal. The pests include looper caterpillar, red spider, helopeltis, thrips and green fly.

Pests and weather combined, planters claim that the estimated loss this year would be around Rs 30 crore. “About 25 per cent of the annual production takes place during this quarter,” one of them said. “Given last year’s figure of 200 million kg in north Bengal, we anticipate a loss of at least 10 per cent of the 50 million kg (produced during these months), which brings it to 5 million kg.” Considering the average price of Rs 60 per kg, the loss will be around Rs 30 crore.

Officials of the Tea Association of India (TAI) sounded equally worried. “The temperature was just right for pests. These grew and attacked the bushes on a massive scale,” said Ranjit Dutta, the secretary of the north Bengal branch of TAI.

Researchers of the Tea Research Association (TRA) however, are more hopeful. “Pest attack and erratic weather have indeed affected the tea gardens, but things are expected to be better in the next few months,” said Pradip Ghosh, the chief advisory officer of TRA, Nagrakata.

Source: The Telegraph

Small tea growers with entrepreneural skills

2007-08-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Dibrugarh , Assam : Amidst raging price fluctuations, escalating costs of production and lower yields of green tea leaves, most of the economic woes of the small tea growers can be erased only if the small growers learn to be better entrepreneurs. A livelihood is sustainable for the tea growers if it can recover from stress and shocks (local, domestic and international) and increases its competency in the global market. The Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, which has taken the challenge to empower and encourage the tea growers and its workers, has underlined.

CEC believes that proper approach and ambitious yet applicable strategies could bring considerable change in the economy of the almost frustrated tea growers. The programmes the CEC harps on are part that will empower tea growers to cope with continued economic and ecological crisis, changes in the market structure due to globalization.

The CEC which claims to have made a study on the whole aspect of tea in India feels every contributors of the supply chain should have share equal to their contribution, adding, only that can be a good business. To begin with its empowerment programme, CEC is primarily focusing on getting all the small tea growers in groups- self help groups to encourage community enterprises. The organization is also imparting orientation and training to the self-help groups already formed. The trainings are part of the project "sustainable livelihood for small tea growers and workers in India".

The objectives behind the formation of societies of the Tea Board of India (TBI) are extension-technology and information dissemination, leaf collection, storage and transportation, procurement and supply of inputs such as fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, sprayers, pruning machines, irrigation equipments etc to the members of society.

To ensure these objectives, according to Utpal Kumar Mishra, field officer, CEC, understanding among members, knowledge on cultivation and market trends, transparency and proper accounting system, records maintenance, learning mind-set from the scientific system of tea maintenance, and avoiding middlemen are must.

The CEC with the logistical support from the All Assam Small Tea Growers Association (AASTGA) has been conducting series of trainings among the new and old societies in co-ordination with regional committees under Borboruah, Lahoal, Belbari, Tengakhat, Barekuri in Dibrugarh district as well as neighbouring Tinsukia district. As the central committee representative, Diban Phukan, publicity secretary, AASTGA is attending the programme along with Mishra, the field officer, CEC.

During the initial research, the CEC found that many societies were not in the track (interest conflict, poor cultivation practices, lack of basic information and understanding about tea industry). “It was observed that growers even though are society members do not understand the basic objective behind the formation of societies (SHG)”, Mishra shared while interacting with *The Assam Tribune*.

The issues like, importance of society, activities of TBI and Tea Research Asociation (TRA), importance of quality, auction system of tea, marketing of tea, supply chain of tea, improvement in bargaining are being covered during the orientation programme.

CEC believes that communities are both subjects and objects of change and they have much strength to change into vigorous communities. "They really need the ideas and knowledge to understand about their own role and situation in the tea industry," Mishra said.

Source: Assam Tribune

India Post to open forex counters

2007-08-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

New Delhi : Post offices in metros are set for a major change with the Government deciding to introduce new facilities like forex counters, cargo services, access to instant money order and other revenue generating services.

"We have got the licence from the RBI to start the foreign exchange business in some post offices in selected metros. We are finalising the deal which would be operational soon," S Samant, Chief General Manager, Business Development, Department of Post (DoP), said.

The department is acquiring an Air India flight to operate a dedicated cargo service carrying parcels, mails and couriers to north eastern states which will swift the delivery of mails in the region, Samant said.

The cargo flight would take off from Kolkata every morning and return in the evening after delivering the services at Agratala and Imphal, he said.

The Postal department recently signed an MoU with the Railways to sell train tickets in some of the post offices. Besides, it has undertaken the task of verifying pre-paid mobile subscribers in some areas, Samant said.

"The future vision of DoP is of a socially committed, commercially oriented and technologically driven organisation which can deliver services to the farthest corners of the country at affordable rates," Samant said.

There are about 1,55,669 post offices all across the country with a significant number of employees. However, its core business of selling stamps and post cards has dipped over the last five years.

To keep its market share intact, the department is also planning to set up a bank, which has been tentatively named as the Post Bank of India.

According to John Samuel, General Manager of DoP, "We continue to evolve to meet the business needs of a rapidly-growing economy without losing our social moorings.

"We have a new concept which envisages converting each post office into a one stop shop for various facilities from postal to stationery to e-post, mutual funds, tea, flowers and gift items."

Tea is already being sold in post offices in West Bengal and Sikkim where customers can buy and also send tea to a chosen destination through air mail, parcel or speed post.

The computerisation process is already on to connect all post offices across the country, Samuel said.

Source: Press Trust of India

After Darjeeling Tea GI, Assam and Nilgiri follows

2007-08-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ) : First it was the Darjeeling brand. Now, Nilgiri and Assam teas, which are strong brands with a value proposition, will be protected internationally under the Geographical Indications (GI) Act.

With the issue of international property rights at the top of the agenda, the Tea Board has engaged lawyers and will shortly register the Nilgiri brand.

The Tea Board wants to get them registered before November, when the International Tea Convention takes place in India.

“The application for the Niligiri teas is being filed at the GI office in Chennai. About 1500 square metres of area which grows orthodox teas in the upper reaches of the Nilgiri has been considered. The Nilgiri variety of tea has the potential to establish itself as an independent brand,” Anindita Roy, director, tea promotion, Tea Board told DNA Money.

Owing to their non-homogenous character, teas grown in Assam, the largest tea growing area, are getting delineated for establishing a generic brand profile to qualify for a GI mark.

“A common GI identification may not be possible in case of the teas grown in Assam where there are a lot of complexities like seasonal variations which reflects on the tastes. While teas grown in the Brahmaputra Valley are sure to be included the other regions may have to be delineated,” Roy said.

Assam teas have a specific identity especially for the famous ‘second flush’ and renowned for their malty intrinsic character internationally.

Each of these teas has specific characters unique to the geographical areas where they are grown and cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world under these names. Moreover, the reputation stems from the place of origin.

Agricultural products typically have qualities that derive from their place of production and are influenced by specific local factors, such as climate and soil.

The new GI Act regulation will encompass total protection against any kind of misuse of the Assam or Nilgiri name and anyone who does so will be liable for charges of criminal offence against infringement of any kind.

As the quality and purity of these teas largely vary across the state, the Tea Board is likely to come up with some form of regional protection formats like logos for the regions, which may not be covered under the GI.

According to planters, once the area gets delineated, duplication becomes very difficult. This in a way also helps create a complete awareness campaign around these teas.

Source: DNA

Assam tea Gardens and tea wines

2007-08-18T00:53:00.000-07:00

Tocklai ( Assam ) : The gardens of Tocklai in Assam, the world's oldest and largest tea research station, are all set to raise a storm in your tea cup.

The scientists are working round the clock. They are stirring up a magical combination that's going to give India and the world its first tea tablets, first tea biscuits and tea colas and interestingly- wine.

"In Japan you will find wine mixed with tea. They call it tea-wine. But in our case, the base is tea from which wine is developed,” says director, Tocklai Tea Station, Dr Mridul Hazarika.

And if it becomes a morning cup of wine instead of tea, you can take heart from the fact that the scales will not be weighed too much against your health.

Says Dr Hazarika, “If this wine will come true then it will have an anti-oxidant property much more than normal wine.”

Tocklai that celebrates its centenary year in 2010, has been working on developing diversified products from tea to absorb the shock of a continuing depression in the tea market.

The three products will be unveiled during an International Tea Convention to be held in Guwahati and Jorhat simultaneously in November.

Source: IBNLive

Tea Crop damaged by dolomite mines

2007-08-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

Ahalya Gram , West Bengal : Rivers and streams situated in the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal have been turning white and murky, due to heavy discharge of waste by dolomite mines operating in the hills.

Rivers and streams have been turning white and planters in the tea-rich area complain that the dolomite flows to their gardens, spoiling the soil and crops.

"The erosion happening here is no small phenomenon that can be undone by one tea estate. The government or the health authorities have to intervene. The initiative would involve a lot of investment," said Subhashsish Kar, manager, Mission Hill Tea Estate, the biggest plantation in the region.

Over 16 acres of the Mission Hill Tea Estate alone has turned infertile due to erosion and deposition.

Most of the settlement around tea estates comprises of workers' colonies. At least 120 households have had to move away to settlements near relatively safe water sources.

"I have lost appetite and my whole body itches. Our children keep falling ill. There have been cases of diarrhoea as well. Stomach ache is common," said Laxman Saha, a Mission Hill employee.

The dolomite menace is yet another hit to the region's tea estates, many of which are reeling under losses and facing closure.

In all aspects of tea, - - production, consumption and export, India has emerged a world leader. The country accounts for 31 percent of global tea production.

It is perhaps the only industry where India has retained its leadership over the last 150 years.

The total turnover of the Indian tea industry is around Rs. 10,000 crores. Since independence tea production has grown over 250 percent, while land area has just grown by 40 percent.

There has been a considerable increase in export too in the past few years. Total net foreign exchange earned per annum is around Rs. 1847 crores.

The labour intensive tea industry directly employs over 1.1 million workers and generates income for another 10 million people approximately. Women constitute 50 percent of the workforce.

Tea trading in the domestic market is done in two ways- Auction and Private Selling. Market Reports are received from the six major auction centres in India, namely, Kolkata , Guwahati, Siliguri, Cochin, Coonoor, Coimbatore and N.I. teauction.com Bulk trading is done through the auctions held in these centres.

Source: ANI

Tea Workers in Bengal needs Redress

2007-08-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

Tea is India’s heritage. We don’t just wake up to our morning cup of tea, we are proud that all over the world that morning cup is very often Indian tea.

Today, tragedy envelopes Indian tea. As you sip, workers at the estates that produce the world famous Darjeeling tea are eking out an existence without adequate food or water, exposed to disease and malnutrition, robbed of basic amenities, healthcare, education or even a secure livelihood. The number of sick tea gardens increases with every year. Some have shut down due to insolvency and labour problems in the Dooars region of West Bengal. Owners have deserted their workers. New generation entrepreneurs have not taken interest in the revival of the plantation sector.

Recent fact-finding missions organised by the Save the Garden, Save Workers Campaign Against Hunger have revealed that the closed and sick tea gardens of Jalpaiguri district have reported starvation deaths due to unemployment, absence of alternatives and limited access to welfare measures. To counter starvation, women and children are being coerced into exploitative forms of work. The complete absence of human rights has led to suicide attempts and trafficking of children. Despite eyewitness and ngo reports, and government awareness, there is no concrete attempt to prevent human trafficking, or to provide protection for the elderly, sick and disabled; no attempt to provide basic amenities. Bigha workers are paid a meagre Rs 15-20 daily wage. In 21st century India, workers are mauled by wild animals near their huts. Their lives and future are paralysed by lawlessness and the absence of redressal forums.

The State’s apathy can be seen in the complete breakdown of government schemes, the denial of the rapidly deteriorating situation and the lack of relief measures from the state government. Most workers in the closed estates have not received their provident fund, gratuity and retirement benefits. Social security measures and rehabilitation packages are not forthcoming from the Central labour ministry for workers with no income. Everyone seems to have washed their hands of the workers — the owners, the government, the health authorities.

When Save the Garden arranged for several teams to visit Jalpaiguri district, the prevalent conditions there appalled all. How many reasons do we need to recognise the gravity of the situation? Isn’t the existing reality valid enough for someone to take note of the complete breakdown of socio-economic conditions and recognise a crisis? Or are we ready to witness another Kalahandi in Jalpaiguri?

By Sreerupa Chowdhury
Chowdhury is national convenor of the Save the Garden, Save Workers Campaign Against Hunger .
Source: Tehelka

Jay Shree Tea to divest Assam unit, IT centre

2007-08-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ) : B K Birla-controlled Jay Shree Tea & Industries has decided to divest its bought leaf (tea) factory in Assam and infotech centre in West Bengal, as part of its restructuring plans.

According to an official release issued by the company to the BSE today, the company has informed that it would seek shareholders’ approval through postal ballot to approve divest/demerge/sale/transfer/lease the bought leaf factory and infotech centre.

Sources close to the development said, whether it would be sold or leased would depend on the buyer. Jay Shree Tea has tea production capacity of around 20 million kilograms, across North and South India and is only selling a bought leaf factory from its portfolio, whereas, the infotech centre could not make much headway as the size of operations was not viable. The call centre was located at Salt Lake, the IT hub in Kolkata.

Source: Business Standard

Starbucks entry into India reads "Coming Soon!"

2007-08-17T01:43:00.000-07:00

At the Starbucks headquarters in Downtown Seattle, there is an enormous scoreboard that keeps count of the number of stores the American beverage chain has opened across the world — some 13,000 in 40 countries at last count. The entry against India reads: Coming soon.

It’s been like this for a while, and it looks likely to stay that way for some time. Last month, Starbucks postponed its entry into India and officially withdrew its application to operate single-brand retail stores, without citing reasons. The scuttlebutt in the market is that the Seattle superstar got filtered as it tried to enter India through an NRI franchisee instead of the government’s preferred FDI route.

One reason Starbucks has had a stop-start issue in India is because it was tailgating smaller Indian coffee chains who got a head start, perhaps anticipating the arrival of the Seattle giant.

Companies like New Delhi upstart Barista and Bangalore’s Coffee Day have first mover advantage with scores of outlets already running. Evidently, Starbucks wanted to buy out one of them but found they were too pricey.

At the same time, Starbucks is lately leery of the direct entry, preferring the franchisee method. Last month, the coffee king got burnt in China, a country of teadrinkers, where it already has 240 stores. Rui Chenggang, China’s top TV anchor, tapped into popular outrage against a Starbucks’ outlet in Forbidden City (he compared to it having a Starbucks inside the Taj Mahal) to have it shut down. Next on the nationalist hit-list is a Starbucks outlet in Shanghai, just a few steps away from the original headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party.

It’s the kind of attention the Seattle superstore is used to. In 1999, protestors agitating during a WTO meeting on its home turf socked into it, branding it as the ugly face of globalisation. Yet Starbucks began modestly, and is a case study in entrepreneurship in the modern age. The first Starbucks, started by two teachers and a writer in 1971 in Seattle’s Pike Place market to sell coffee beans, was subsequently bought by Howard Schultz, who wanted to sell beans, beverage and bric-a-brac.

In less than three decades, Starbucks has become one of the world’s major brands. Today, it sells music, books and a range of merchandise. In China (and in India when it opens), both of which are primarily tea-drinking nations and where traditionalists may balk at paying $ 2.50 (Rs 100) and above for a beverage, it presents itself more as a hangout place for the young.

Despite Starbucks’ current setbacks, the two Asian giants are central to its goal of toting up 40,000 stores worldwide, which will make it arguably the largest retailer on earth. Some industry reports suggest that India’s nascent gourmet coffee market may sprout 5,000 cafes over five years. Like Wal-Mart, Starbucks could tap into a new segment, independent of the traditional dives, where oldtimers can continue to enjoy kaapi and chai-biskoot. Starbucks does not care if the young come in for hot air or cool vibes, as long as they spend.

Source: The Times of India

Special Purpose Tea Fund receives poor response

2007-08-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ): The Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF), launched this year to rejuvenate age-old tea bushes, has been made more flexible in order to pep up the participation from gardens in South India.

While the first loan application is expected to be sanctioned within this week so as to enable the commencement of replantation activities before this monsoon, so far only 29 applications have been received from South India against the 300 applications received from Assam, West Bengal and Tripura till July 31. Labour shortage is believed to be the major factor that may stymie the participation of South Indian gardens.

SBI Caps, to whom the entire loan vetting process has been outsourced, is now grading the proposals — A to D —depending on tea estates’ financial parameters, managerial capability and the past development activities as evidenced by the field inspection reports. ‘A’ denotes top grade with a proposal with the ‘D’ tag requiring a reconsideration.

Confirming that response to the SPTF has been tardy from South Indian gardens, which contribute 200 million kg out of the 900-odd million kg produced by India, Tea Board sources said flexibilities regarding the minimum amount of land that could be taken up initially for replantation had been introduced in the scheme.

While earlier it was envisaged that loans would be given only if at least 2.5 per cent of the total area under a garden was proposed to be rejuvenated, it has now been decided to relax this norm.

Similarly, the upper limit has also been relaxed so that gardens wanting to replant over and above the existing ceiling of 12.5 per cent of the total area would be allowed to do so, provided there were no objections from the bankers and if the gardens were financially sound.

However, there seems to be little optimism regarding participation from South India even after such relaxations.

With a depleting manpower, the industry has been forced to go in for mechanisation, using, for instance, shear harvesters for tea-plucking. While this has addressed the industry’s labour problems to an extent, it has led to a drop in quality since tea plucking is all about selecting the right leaves and a bud to pluck. This is crucial to the flavour.

Moreover, replantation and rejuvenation does not generate huge interest among the garden owners most of whom have composite gardens where other plantation crops are also cultivated.

Source: The Hindu

Some Info About Indian Tea

2007-08-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Assam Tea : Assam produces more than half the tea grown in India. This tea grown at sea level is known for its body, briskness, malty flavor, and strong, bright color. Historically, Assam is the second commercial tea production region after China. China and Assam are the only two regions in the world with native tea plants. Assam mainly produces black tea. The Guawati Tea Auction Centre(GTAC) handles mainly assam teas.

Darjeeling Tea : The renowned gardens of Darjeeling produces teas with a distinguishable muscatel flavor and aroma. Grown on steep mountain slopes at elevations of 1,500 to 7,000 feet above sea level, these delicate teas command some of the world¹s highest auction prices. The combination of natural factors that gives Darjeeling tea its unique distinction is not found anywhere else in the world. Darjeeling tea is also known as “the champagne of teas" for its delicate aroma and light colour.

Nilgiri Tea : The Blue Mountains or the Nilgiris are situated in South India. The Nilgiri tea is dark intensely aromatic and flavoured.The tea provides a higher number of cups per measure (technically known as cuppage) because of the Crush, Tear, Curl or CTC process of manufacture. The expensive full leaf versions of the tea like the Orange Pekoe are highly sought after at international auctions making it unaffordable for most locals.

Green Tea good for your health

2007-08-14T01:16:00.000-07:00

The Chinese were the first people to realise the properties and benefits of green tea. It was only later that tea came to be treated as a beverage.

Research has provided hard-core evidence of the health benefits of green tea. Green tea is loaded with catechin polyphenols, especially epigallocatecchin gallate, which is commonly referred to as EGCG.

In addition to being a wonderful anti-oxidant it also destroys malignant cancer cells leaving healthy tissue untouched.

Black tea, oolong tea and green tea have the same origin - The camellia sinensis plant, but green tea earns its reputation because the EGCG in it remains unoxidized and unfermented. In the other two kinds of tea, EGCG is changed into different compounds and the medicinal effect is diluted.

Green tea is often spoken of in the context of cardiovascular disease. It helps to lower LDL cholesterol, which is responsible for the formation of blood clots and thus reduces the risks of stroke and heart attacks.

It is in fact as effective as aspirin in preventing platelets from clotting and greatly reduces levels of thromboxane, which is the villain in causing blood clots. It also promotes the production of HDL and does away with plaque present in the arteries.

Source: The Times of India

Indian Tea Company buttering Shaolin Temple for Chinese market

2007-08-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Dengfeng (China), Aug 9 (PTI): An Indian tea company is set to piggyback the world famous Shaolin Temple, set up here in central China to honour an Indian Buddhist monk in 495 AD, to enter the huge Chinese market.

"A famous Indian tea company, wanting to enter Chinese market, is discussing with us on cooperation," the abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin told PTI here.

However, the abbot declined to name the Indian tea company.

Another temple official said it was too early to make the business deal public.

The Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan province, is widely considered the birthplace of Shaolin boxing, a unique combination of Buddhism and Chinese martial arts that evolved into Kung Fu.

Interestingly, Tata Tea had signed a joint venture agreement with Zhejiang Tea Import & Export (ZTIE) company of China in May.

Meanwhile, the Shaolin Temple, realising the potential value of its famous image and name, is fighting against increasing misuse of the 'Shaolin' trademark by unscrupulous traders for commercial purposes.

The Buddhist temple made famous by dozens of Kung Fu movies, has registered "Shaolin" and "Shaolin Temple" as trademarks with China's General Administration for Industry and Commerce, the abbot, wearing mustard-coloured robes, said.

It has also set up a firm to safeguard the temple's reputation and ban its "abusive use" in commercial activities.

"We have registered our trademarks in many foreign countries, including India," said Shi, a Chinese lawmaker who visited India in 1995.

Source: PTI

Centrol Food Grain Policy to affect the Tea Industry

2007-08-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ) : Profitability of tea companies with a presence in Assam and West Bengal may suffer in 2007-08 as production costs are slated to shoot up in coming months. The prime contributor to the sudden spurt in production costs is food grain which tea garden owners have been forced to buy from the open market and provide it at a subsidised rate of 47 paise per kg to their workers.

Till recently, tea garden owners were allowed to buy food grain for workers through the public distribution system (PDS) at a price way below the prevailing market rates. However, the Central government has now introduced a new system, targeted public distribution system (TPDS), for tea gardens.

"So far, the state governments have been making allotments of food grain to the tea industry for consumption of its workers. On the introduction of TPDS in tea gardens, the quantity of such allotment has been drastically curtailed," Tea Association of India president Shashank Prashad told Economic Times.

Traditionally, the owners are required to provide 35.25 kg of food grain to a tea garden worker on a monthly basis. The new system allows the garden owner to buy only 7 kg of food grain from PDS. He is forced to buy the rest 28 kg per worker from the open market.

"As a result of this open market operation, the market prices of food grain have shot up to a level going beyond the means of the tea industry, which is reeling under crisis for the last eight years," Mr Prashad added.

Tea companies are also upset over the sudden rise in food grain prices. "The industry had been asking the Central government to bear a portion of the social cost fund that we have to bear. The government has done nothing.

On the contrary, it has now increased the food grain prices. This will affect the profitability of the companies as the labor cost will go up substantially," said a Warren Tea official. His view was shared by Dhunseri Tea, Goodricke Group and others. Tea Board chairman Basudeb Banerjee said: "It is a Central government policy and we can hardly do anything."

Source: The Economic Times

Indian Chai and Double Roti

2007-08-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

New Delhi / Mumbai : Tea in the hands of British facilitated trade, triggered tax regimes, even sparked revolutions. The brew may have originated in China, but there's still nothing more English than a cuppa tea.

But while the British introduced tea and crumpets with jam to India, the post-colonial nation found its own take on this heady concoction. Sixty years after Independence, India still snacks on them, but knows them better as chai and “double” roti

Boiled and sweetened with copious amount of milk and sugar, the humble pyala (cup) of chai comes in many a variety - aada doodh aadha paani (water and milk, half-and-half), masala chai, malai maar ke (creamed tea), kullar chai (served in earthen pots) and Mumbai ki cutting chai (Mumbai special tea).

India today consumes over 700 million kilos of tea every year and the ritual cuts across socio-economic barriers.

It’s hard to believe that over 150 years ago, the British started the country's first tea plantations, traded in tea under East India company and even ran commercial campaigns to popularise tea drinking among Indians.

Source: IBN Live

Water Wisdom - Tea

2007-08-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

New Delhi : Dire warnings that the future wars will be fought over water may come true sooner than anticipated, albeit with a flavour. At least four behemoths, three of them multinationals, will soon mount an assault on the flavoured water market.

So far, north India-based D S Foods, not encumbered by any competition, has been ruling the market with its Catch brand priced at Rs 30. That will change soon as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and Tata Tea – the first three already dabble in bottled water – will soon try to trip Catch.

The fourth, Tata Tea, had recently taken 30 per cent equity in Glaceau of the US, which has a large portfolio of enhanced waters, only to sell it to Coke. It has recently acquired the Himalayan water brand.

The flavoured market in India is small, only about Rs 11 crore out of the total bottled water market of about Rs 1,100 crore. But many small market segments have been known to explode with the entry of good products. For example, enhanced and flavoured waters were just $ 234 million in the US in 2000. By 2010, the category is projected to grow to $ 8.6 billion and is the fastest growing beverage category.

India shows a similar promise. The “2007 India Soft Drinks Report” by international beverage research specialist Canadean, says carbonated beverages declined in India for the second consecutive year in 2006, with little improvement projected in 2007. Packaged water growth projections, however, are in excess of 40 per cent, with still drinks (Frooti, Maaza and others) growing at under 10 per cent. Coca-Cola is expected to launch Bonaqua, by December this year.

Globally, Bonaqua sells sparkling flavoured water in ranging from strawberry, litchi, apple and mint to lemon and lime. In India, it is likely to be priced between Rs 20 and Rs 30 a bottle. Coca-Cola already sells in India the bottled water brand Kinley. "We are constantly looking at newer innovations in the potential market segments," said a spokesperson for its India operations.

Tata Tea is also looking to extend Himalayan into flavoured water. However, its executives only said that the company was looking to extend the brand into premium categories.

PepsiCo too is believed to be planning to extend its bottled water brand, Aquafina, into flavoured water. A company executive said it was too early to comment as entry plans were still being evaluated. Nestle executives refused to comment.

Parle’s Bisleri, PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coke’s Kinley at present rule the lower end of the Indian packaged water category, priced as they are between Rs 10 and Rs 14 for a 1 litre bottle.

The top end is dominated by imported brands like Groupe Danone’s mountain water brand Evian and Nestle’s sparkling water brand Perrier, priced between Rs 80 and Rs 110 a litre. Himalayan costs Rs 25 a bottle. Flavoured water falls in the mid-priced segment of the bottled water category.

WATER WISDOM
# D S Foods is now ruling the Indian flavoured water market with its Catch brand priced at Rs 30
# Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle and Tata Tea are set to enter the market soon
# The flavoured water market now is just 1% of the Rs 1,100 crore packaged water category in India

Source: Business Standard

India Tea Market in Russia - Tata Tea

2007-08-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ) : Tata Tea is teaming up with Tata Coffee and a few other institutions to aggressively promote Indian tea brands in Russia. Russia has traditionally been one of the strongest markets for Indian teas and the move is aimed at regaining India's market share in Russia.

Tata Tea managing director Percy Siganporia said that plans were still in a fluid state but confirmed such a proposal has been floated. "A new enterprise will be formed which will promote Indian tea brands in Russia," Siganporia said. He, however, did not divulge further details. Siganporia was speaking to reporters on Saturday at the Indian Tea Association's annual general meeting.

Union minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh, who was also present in the ITA meeting, said that Russia is currently the second biggest importer of both tea and coffee from India. Russia accounted for 20 per cent of India's coffee exports during 2006-07, close behind Italy at 27 per cent. It imported 32 million kg of Indian tea of India's total export basket of 185 million kg.

While Russia, Iraq and Pakistan have remained a stronghold for India's tea exports over the years, the Union commerce ministry has identified new markets in Egypt and Iran. The ministry is keen to set up a tea marketing office in Cairo for which it has written to East India Hotels Ltd, which currently operates a luxury hotel in Cairo, seeking help.

"We are hopeful that the tea marketing centre will be a reality soon," Ramesh said. Earlier, the ministry had planned to set up a similar centre at the Air-India office in Cairo but had to back out owing to objections from the landlord.

Source: Hindustan Times

Tea Export Earnings dipped Rs. 9.12 Crore

2007-08-13T03:11:00.000-07:00

Kolkata ( Calcutta ) : Tea exports for the first six months of 2007 dropped 11.8 million kg. Export earnings also dipped Rs 9.12 crore.

Kenya, which had a bumper crop this year, reported a 24.7 per cent jump in exports at 151.3 million kg till May this year against 121.4 million kg in the year-ago period.

China also recorded an 8.7 per cent rise in exports at 121 million kg.

Sri Lanka, however, registered a drop in exports at 112 million kg compared with 123.3 million kg because of labour problems.

In India, exports from the north rose to 35 million kg from 33 million kg, while those from the south were down to 39.7 million kg from 54.5 million kg.

Tea auctions in north India saw a rise in volumes for the first half of the year to 116.3 million kg from 114.7 million kg a year ago. This comes at a time when the Tea Board and the commerce ministry are planning to implement the e-auction system. In terms of value, the price slightly declined to Rs 69.72 per kg from Rs 70.79 per kg in the corresponding period of the previous year.

In the south, the volumes dipped to 59.2 million kg from 65.5 million kg. The value, however, improved to Rs 52.58 per kg from Rs 49.26 per kg in the year-ago period.

The rising rupee added to the woe of exporters. Branded tea companies such as Tata Tea have lost around Rs 3 crore on a stand-alone basis and Rs 10 crore on a consolidated basis.

McLeod Russel India, one of the largest tea producers, also expects a drop in exports to around 21 million kg from 25 million kg last fiscal.

Source: The Telegraph