Guwahati: An apex body of tea planters and traders on Thursday said that the image of Indian tea has been hit by the re-export of cheap tea imported from African and Asian nations.
The Tea Association of India (TAI) said that most of the duty-free tea that has been imported is being re-exported as ‘Indian Tea’ in violation of national law.
“Most teas being imported are cheap quality teas from origins including Iran, Vietnam and Africa. Re-export of these teas as ‘Indian tea’ is giving a bad reputation to Indian tea, undermining the price of Indian tea to the detriment of genuine exporters and image of Indian tea,” TAI President Sandeep Singhania said.
He said it decreases the price of Indian tea, negatively impacting the financial sustainability and wage-paying ability of the industry.
The TAI head said that unless steps are taken for the abolition of the re-export of imported teas as the ‘Indian Tea’, it would have disastrous consequences on prices and the tea economy which would break the financial backbone of the already struggling industry.
He said that the viability of the tea producer has been under acute stress in the absence of fair price discovery of Indian teas.
In keeping with the Prime Minister’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the Indian tea industry has sustained production and employment levels in spite of acute economic stress over the last decade due to stagnant prices, Singhania stated.
TAI demanded the Tea Board of India, which is empowered with greater financial and legislative power, to take steps to root out the fraud and take all necessary steps as per law to bring violators to task.
The tea planters and traders’ body also demanded to adopt a testing model as adopted by Sri Lanka for all teas imported for re-export and consider a ban on duty-free imports for re-export in bulk.
Activate and empower the North Indian Tea Council to assist the Tea Board in monitoring the quality of imports and exports of tea and initiate necessary penal action against all who have broken the law and passed off cheap low quality imported tea as Indian tea in violation of Indian law, TAI urged the government.
Assam, which produces roughly 55 per cent of India’s tea, has more than 10 lakh tea workers in the organised sector, working in about 850 big estates.
Besides, there are lakhs of small tea gardens owned by individuals. The tea belts of the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys are home to more than 60 lakh people.
After Assam, Tripura is the second largest producer of tea in the northeastern region, producing around 10 million kg of tea annually.
(IANS)
