The Pakistani tea industry has initiated a vigorous campaign for Indian brands in its markets to popularise the Indian beverage across the border, industry sources say. There is lack of knowledge about Indian brands across the border and the Pakistani tea industry has requested information about the beverage, its quality, grades, seasonal changes and other details, they said. The views of the Pakistan tea industry were conveyed to their Indian counterparts during discussions between the two countries in November-December last.
The second largest importer of tea, with a phenomenal domestic consumption of 140 million kg, Pakistan had initially placed orders for two million kg of Indian tea before seeking an additional four million kg. Kenya accounts for 70 per cent of tea imports by Pakistan and the tea industry there feels India could replace a major part of imports from countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh.
However, delay in shipments from India after signing of contracts were posing serious problems as the time taken by other countries to deliver the consignments was far less. On the other hand, the Indian tea sector was of the view that Pakistan was not a price-sensitive market and if India could offer quality tea at a competitive price then inroads could be made, industry sources said. "Of late, the Pakistan market has switched to smaller broken varieties, which should augur well for Indian exporters," they said.
Yet another advantage that India could use to its favour was the fact that Pakistan also consumed crushed tear curl (CTC) tea more. "Pakistan does import orthodox tea but CTC is the major component in domestic consumption. There is not much scope for Darjeeling varieties there," sources said.