March tea export rises 22 per cent

India's tea export in March rose 22 per cent to 14.69 million kg from a year ago, according to the Tea Board data. Exports in March moved up after falling in January and February. Drought in Kenya appears to have helped boost India's tea export in March, industry officials said.

The data revealed that despite an upward trend in March, overall exports in the first quarter of 2006 fell 23 per cent to 36.55 million kg from the corresponding period of 2005.

Although there was an increase in the quantity of export in March, its value fell to Rs 120 crore from 122 crore in the same month of the previous year, the data said.

In the first quarter of 2006, value of tea export was down 26 per cent at Rs 308 crore, it said.

Production: The data said India's tea production in March increased to 58.12 million kg from 56.66 million kg a year ago. The increase in production was reported despite drought-like conditions in main tea producing areas of West Bengal and Assam that had raised fears of a reduced crop.