Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): The tea industry in the country is expanding continuously, as in the year 2024, tea exports increased to a record 254.67 million kg, with India surpassing Sri Lanka, becoming the third largest tea exporter in the world.
Despite going through a difficult phase in last two to three years, the tea industry is back on track.
Vijay Gopal Chakraborty, Secretary of the Small Tea Producers Association in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, praised India’s growing stature in the tea industry.
He told IANS, “The tea industry witnessed a very steady growth in the year 2024, which was not seen in the previous two to three years. If we look at the last year’s figures, India exported a record 254.67 million kg of tea in 2024, which is the highest in the last decade. A revenue of Rs 7,111 crore was obtained from such high exports, i.e. the average price was Rs 280 per kg. At the same time, 23.169 crore kg of tea was exported in 2023, the average price of which was Rs 265.91 per kg.”
“According to a recent report by the International Tea Committee, India has now overtaken Sri Lanka to become the third largest producer of global tea exports. India is now only behind China and Kenya,” Chakraborty said.
Speaking about new countries entering the India tea market, he said, “Russia was our traditional tea partner, but new doors have opened in the world market for Indian tea. About 70 per cent of India’s tea exports go to countries like The UAE, Russia, the US, the UK, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and Turkey. It is surprising that in Turkey every person drinks up to six kg of tea in a year. The Turkish market is also new for us.”
Regarding the future target for the tea industry, Chakraborty said, “We have set a huge target in the tea industry. We want to export 30 crore kg of tea to the whole world by 2030. A total of 140 crore kg of tea is produced in the country, of which 110 crore kg is sold in the domestic market. The recent trend seen in the tea industry in the country is very encouraging. There will be further growth in this industry in the future.”
(IANS)
