India's tea production may fall short of the one billion kg mark this year as well, with rains and pest attacks impacting yield in Assam, the largest beverage producing state in the country.
"Excess rains and pest attacks, mainly in Assam, will have impact on tea production, though marginally. Because of this, our production may may not reach to the one billion kg level, but overall production may remain around the last year's level," Tea Board Chairman Basudeb Banerjee told PTI here.
India, the second largest producer of tea in the world, had produced 979 million kg of tea last year. Following the prediction of a normal monsoon forecast by the meteorological department, the Tea Board had earlier said the current year's production could be around one billion kg.
Also the largest consumer of tea in the world, India accounts for about 28 per cent of world production and 14 per cent of trade. There are about 1,600 tea estates in India. The industry employs more than two million people.
Excessive rains and pest attacks have already impacted production in Assam, which produces more than half of India's total production.
"However, it is too early to predict the total production for the year. But because of rains, production of quality tea, for which we get better price, will go down," Banerjee said.
An industry official, however, said that total tea output in the current year will "certainly" fall as output from Assam will be "severely" impacted as a result of unfavorable weather conditions and pest attacks.
"The figure of May output, when released, will show the sorry state of production. This will in stark contrast with the April figure, when our production actually grew over the same period last year," he said.
The Tea Board of India releases monthly production and export figures with a lag.
India had produced 68.2 million kg tea in April this year compared to 62.5 million kg a year-ago.