Despite persistent threats by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that the state government will take strong action if tea gardens in Darjeeling are not reopened and workers are not paid their bonuses before Durga Puja, there is little clarity when the three-month-long  strike will end.

The agitation for a separate state has hit the interests of speciality and premium teas, especially on the export front as exporters are facing order cancellations. Production at 87 Darjeeling tea estates has halved to 2.1 million kg from 4.1 million kg a year ago between January and June. However, no official figures on exports from the area are available.

Darjeeling accounts for around 8 million kg of tea, mostly premium and speciality variety, per year. Of this, about 6 million kg is exported. Nearly 100,000 workers are registered with as many as 87 tea gardens in the picturesque hill district of Bengal.

The prolonged closure of Darjeeling tea estates may have caused some losses in exports; overall tea exports have increased 4.6 per cent in volume terms in the first 7 months of this year.

Also, Indian tea has made significant inroads into two of its top rival markets – China and Sri Lanka. While exports of tea to Sri Lanka have increased 150 per cent, shipments to China have soared 71 per cent, according to Tea Board of India data.

Total exports stood at 121.1 million kg in January-July, up from 115.8 million kg over the period last year. India exported 227 million kg tea last year. Egypt has played an important role in raising India’s tea exports. Egypt, a traditional market for Indian tea, has almost doubled imports from India. Exports to Ukraine and Kazakhstan have also increased, say tea industry officials. Along with Russia, the CIS region is the single-largest market for Indian produce.

But in terms of overall production, India is heading for yet another record production in 2017. According to Tea Board data, tea production in July went up by 3.4 per cent to 155.59 million kg as plucking activity picked up in the Assam. The top tea producing state produced 3.7 per cent more tea at 88.10 million kg.

Region-wise, north India witnessed a 4.05 per cent rise at 136.54 million kg, but the southern part recorded a 1.30 per cent decline at 19.05 million kg in July. In the first seven months of this year, the country produced 598.74 million kg against 574.57 million kg in the same period of last year, which is a 4.21 per cent rise. Thus the country is likely to produce 1,290 million kg tea this year against 1,267 million kg produced last year.

ritwikmukherjee@mydigitalfc.com