 "Erratic monsoon to pull down overall tea output")
Tea production in India is likely to fall this year according to the latest trend in production. Production is slated to fall after a gap of five years.
According to a data prepared by the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) till July this year, 0.07% dip was recorded in production. This is primarily because of the fall in production in South Indian tea plantations. It may be noted that production in North East region got affected according to latest reports due to adverse weather conditions.
In South India, according to estimates during April-July period a dip of 2.8 million Kgs (1.93%) was recorded. Whereas in the North production was up by 6.6 million Kgs (0.69%), making good the loss in the southern parts of the country.
Interestingly, India records a dip in the production of tea after a gap of five years. During 2010, country recorded an increase of 15.45% and during last year an 0.57% increase was recorded according to the data. Tea Board data reveals that there is serious dip in production in this June and July compared to thesame months in last year.
In June 123.91 million kgs were produced and in July this went up to 154.37 million kgs. These were 141.30 million kgs and 162.09 million kgs respectively in Juneand July of 2014. As per the data production moved up in February, April andMay this year during the seven month period ended in July.
Reports from North East and South said that tea plantations are in doldrums due to variousfactors including adverse climatic conditions. Ullas Menon, secretary, UPASI told Business Standard that erratic weather, especially in the case of monsoon had badly affected the production in the southern part of the country. Serious fall in monsoon showers had made drought like condition and affected production very badly.
Still there will not be a much serious fall in production this year. The drop may be confined to 20-30 million kgs, which will not a major issue as the average national out put is 1,200 million Kgs. He said that the plantation sectorin the North East region, where 60-65% of the total production is carried out, facing cost escalation issue. So a section of the farmers are in crisis. So in the southern states there is an issue of increasing the wage.
Cost escalation makes the tea plantations difficult to survive in the long run, headded. Meanwhile, in Munnar, in Kerala tea plantation workers had started indefinite strike, four days back, demanding Rs 500 as daily wage. A meeting of the plantation labour committee failed to have a consensus over the issue.
Tea Traders Association said that tea factories of Kerala would be shut down in the light of the strike. India's exports had faced a dip this year both in the case of volume and value. In the case of value the loss is very important as this is due to the sharp fall in the unit value. The average unit price in the export market had dropped to Rs 175.26/kg from Rs 191.12 in 2014.
This caused a major dip in the export revenue in the current year. According to provisional estimates of Tea Board, India exported 107.92 million Kgs during January-July as against 112.89 million Kgs in the same period of last year.
On the revenue side the loss is substantial as it went down to Rs 1,891.41 crore in Jan-July period from Rs 2,157.54 crore in the same period of last year.
A fall of 12.89% was recorded in the exports from North India while South India recorded 5.99% increase in January -July period.
According to a data prepared by the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) till July this year, 0.07% dip was recorded in production. This is primarily because of the fall in production in South Indian tea plantations. It may be noted that production in North East region got affected according to latest reports due to adverse weather conditions.
In South India, according to estimates during April-July period a dip of 2.8 million Kgs (1.93%) was recorded. Whereas in the North production was up by 6.6 million Kgs (0.69%), making good the loss in the southern parts of the country.
Interestingly, India records a dip in the production of tea after a gap of five years. During 2010, country recorded an increase of 15.45% and during last year an 0.57% increase was recorded according to the data. Tea Board data reveals that there is serious dip in production in this June and July compared to thesame months in last year.
In June 123.91 million kgs were produced and in July this went up to 154.37 million kgs. These were 141.30 million kgs and 162.09 million kgs respectively in Juneand July of 2014. As per the data production moved up in February, April andMay this year during the seven month period ended in July.
Reports from North East and South said that tea plantations are in doldrums due to variousfactors including adverse climatic conditions. Ullas Menon, secretary, UPASI told Business Standard that erratic weather, especially in the case of monsoon had badly affected the production in the southern part of the country. Serious fall in monsoon showers had made drought like condition and affected production very badly.
Still there will not be a much serious fall in production this year. The drop may be confined to 20-30 million kgs, which will not a major issue as the average national out put is 1,200 million Kgs. He said that the plantation sectorin the North East region, where 60-65% of the total production is carried out, facing cost escalation issue. So a section of the farmers are in crisis. So in the southern states there is an issue of increasing the wage.
Cost escalation makes the tea plantations difficult to survive in the long run, headded. Meanwhile, in Munnar, in Kerala tea plantation workers had started indefinite strike, four days back, demanding Rs 500 as daily wage. A meeting of the plantation labour committee failed to have a consensus over the issue.
Tea Traders Association said that tea factories of Kerala would be shut down in the light of the strike. India's exports had faced a dip this year both in the case of volume and value. In the case of value the loss is very important as this is due to the sharp fall in the unit value. The average unit price in the export market had dropped to Rs 175.26/kg from Rs 191.12 in 2014.
This caused a major dip in the export revenue in the current year. According to provisional estimates of Tea Board, India exported 107.92 million Kgs during January-July as against 112.89 million Kgs in the same period of last year.
On the revenue side the loss is substantial as it went down to Rs 1,891.41 crore in Jan-July period from Rs 2,157.54 crore in the same period of last year.
A fall of 12.89% was recorded in the exports from North India while South India recorded 5.99% increase in January -July period.