Incessant rainfall for the last couple of months in Assam has resulted in crop loss in May for the tea industry in Brahmaputra Valley, one of the two tea-producing regions of the state, thus “upsetting” the industry to some extent.
“Tea production till April was very good. But it dipped in the month of May, primarily due to excessive rainfall and inconducive weather condition,” said Bidyananda Barkakoty, chairman of North Eastern Tea Association (NETA).
According to Barkakoty, there was almost a 20 per cent dip in production in the month of May this year compared to the previous year. He said that the drastic dip in a single month pulled down the total production figure by almost three per cent from January to May, as compared to the corresponding period last year.
The incessant rainfall deprived crops of sufficient sunlight and a warm temperature during the day time in May, thus creating unfavourable conditions for crops to grow fully. The ideal weather conditions for the tea crop are rainfall at night and warm weather during the daytime.
The loss of crop in May has “upset” the tea industry to some extent. It is the production in May and June (also called second flush in the tea industry jargon) which is considered of premium quality.
“Loss of crop in May has really upset us as the second flush from the gardens of Assam is of the best quality. We hope at least the production in June picks up,” said another industry source.
However, Barkakoty said that as of now, the “look of the crop” of June appeared to be better than that of May, thus injecting some hope in the industry.
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Nevertheless, the price of tea in the Guwahati auction has been firm since the onset of this season and has been hovering around Rs 110-115 a kg.
Also, there have been reports of inundation of two or three tea gardens in Upper Assam—especially in Dibrugarh district—by flood waters.
Dipanjol Deka, secretary of Tea Association of India (TAI) said that though inundation had affected the production of particular tea gardens, there had been no overall affect on the industry. Also, another source said that swelling rivers in Upper Assam inundated only a few tea gardens that were extremely close to the river. Generally, tea gardens are situated on highlands and thus floodwaters inundating gardens, especially in Brahmaputra Valley (Upper Assam), are very rare, though there have been many instances of inundation in Barak Valley (South Assam) by floodwaters in the recent past.
2009 was one of the best years for the Assam tea industry in terms of both production and price realisation and that story has been continuing for the industry till this year. Last year, the average price of Assam tea was up by almost Rs 19, which undoubtedly was above expectation for the industry. As against the average price of Rs 91.71 a kg in 2008 at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC), the average was Rs 110.42 in 2009. Last year, when the overall tea production in India declined by almost two per cent, Assam witnessed a bumper crop as production was up by 13 million kg from 487 million kg in 2009.