The Tea Board is considering an industry demand for setting up minimum benchmark prices for different grades of tea leaves, an official said.
The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has demanded that the government set up minimum benchmark prices for different grades of tea leaves to promote growth of the sector and push exports. “Tea Board and ITA are in discussions over the issue. The demand is reasonable,” the official said.
According to the industry, implementation of the demand would help tea companies to deal with the cost-disparity problem, which is impacting the sector.
The benchmark price is based on tea production and previous months auction rates. As per the proposal of the industry, various grades of tea should not be sold below certain prices set by the board. India exported tea worth ₹5,132.37 crore in 2018 as against ₹4,987.59 crore in 2017.
The main export markets for India are Iran, China, UAE, Pakistan and CIS countries like Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Tea production saw a decline across the country during January at 13.96 million kg, compared to 17.68 million kg in the corresponding period a year ago.