Ethical challenge faces tea exporters

Indian tea producers will have to comply with the norms set by the " Ethical Tea Partnership", an initiative to ensure responsible working conditions in tea estates.

Or else, the industry would face a boycott from some of the leading packers of the world.

The Partnership, which monitors key areas of working life on estates, against laws, union agreements and some international standards, has been monitoring India for the past three years. Chris Pinfold, executive director Ethical Tea Partnership, said though the acceptance level has increased, more needs to be done.

He pointed out, producers for the organisation's packer members needs to fill questionnaire and it was in their own interest to do as they would sell more tea.

In addition, the tea producers are not charged for the monitoring activity as the entire cost if borne by the member packers. "Member packers invests around £1.4 million a year for monitoring every year", said Pinfold.

The members include some of the biggest names in tea production including Finlay Beverages, Unilever (Europe), The Tetley Group, Williamson & Magor Ltd, among others.

They represent 47 brands of tea and cover brands sold in 31 countries.

Pinfold said, "Taking part in the Ethical Tea Partnership scheme will ensure that your tea is acceptable to the greatest percentage of your customers worldwide. If you are being asked for evidence that you produce tea to responsible social standards, this is the one monitoring scheme you should take part in."

The monitoring is done through PricewaterhouseCoopers. A questionnaire is sent to all estates, for completion and return. Once the questionnaire is completed, a monitoring visit is arranged. In the final stage, the estate is given an action plan and will also be graded to reflect number and type of any non-conformation.

The Partnership would work with the estate to make sure the action plan is followed up.

Pinfold said, "While refusing to buy from an estate is very much the last resort for us, our members are prepared to do this if the appropriate standards are not met or the estate will not engage in a positive dialogue with us."

By early 2005, of the 1,200 estates on the Partnership's list, the team would have visited all the estates in Kenya and Malawi at least once, 30 per cent of the estates in Sri Lanka and 60 per cent of those in India.

Pinfold said, "We will also have monitored all the estates in Tanzania supplying our members and a quarter of those in Indonesia."

However, some of the Indian producers pointed out that the social cost structure in different parts of the world were not the same.

For instance, the structure in Kenya was very different from India and hence the measuring parameters should be modified as per the conditions in each country.