Tea Garden

Tea garden workers in north Bengal's Dooars, Terai to get 16% bonus

Tea garden workers in north Bengal's Dooars and Terai regions will receive a 16 per cent bonus for the 2023-24 financial year, an industry body said on Monday. The Tea Association of India, in a statement, said that the industry-wide bonus agreement was reached after due deliberations between trade union representatives and members of the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA), which represents employers. TAI said that the industry has been passing through a severe financial crisis for a prolonged period. In the previous 2022-23 fiscal, the tea industry in north Bengal had settled for a bonus payout of 19 per cent. According to TAI, the economic sustainability of tea gardens in north Bengal is in "jeopardy". The adverse weather conditions have affected the health of bushes, leading to a considerable drop in production during the year. The crop of the first and second flush, which produce the best quality tea, has suffered a loss, affecting cash flow of the garde

Climate-smart tea seed introduced to counter high-temperature impacts

A body of the tea industry has come out with a climate-smart seed variety which can withstand high temperatures and yield quality crops, an official said on Sunday. The new seed stock 'TSS 2', introduced by the Tea Research Association (TRA), will help the industry prepare itself to counter the negative effects of climate change, he said. The TRA is funded by the Ministry of Commerce and the tea industry. The new seed variety has been introduced at a time "when tea production is down by 80 million kgs till now in 2024 due to extreme heat and climatic factors," TRA secretary Joydeep Phukan told PTI. Extreme heat is making a significant impact on tea plantations in Assam and north Bengal, the two largest tea-producing regions in the country. "To combat the effects of climate change, TRA released the first climate-smart tea seed stock TSS 2. The new seed variety can withstand high temperatures and the new seed stock can produce high-quality tea," he said. The traditional tea-growing

Wages of Assam tea workers meagre, welfare scheme implementation poor: CAG

Wages of tea garden workers in Assam are meagre, with several shortcomings and areas of concern in implementation of labour laws and worker welfare provisions, a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has said. It also found the state government's intervention in fixing wages as per the Minimum Wage Act (MW Act) insufficient, noting that efforts to improve the lives of the workers have fallen short of making any substantial change. The performance audit on Implementation of Schemes for Welfare of Tea Tribe' for the period 2015-16 to 2020-21 maintained that low income and lack of education have been major barriers to the overall development of the workers in the state. The audit was performed in four zones Cachar, Dibrugarh, Nagaon and Sonitpur. There are 390 tea estates in the four sampled zones, of which 40 estates (10 per cent) were selected based on the size of the plantations and number of workers employed. Apart from scrutiny of records, the exercise included ...

African, Asian tea producers flag concerns over demand-supply mismatch

Associations of tea producers in Asia and Africa have flagged concerns over the global mismatch of demand and supply and called for an early restoration of equilibrium, according to a statement issued by a planters' body on Friday. In a meeting of the stakeholders of the global tea industry, recently held in Dubai, the associations also addressed the issue of quality and long-term sustainability of the sector. Indian Tea Association (ITA) chairman Hemant Bangur said that the global tea industry is facing a demand-supply mismatch as production continues to outpace demand. Representatives of ITA, East African Trade Association (EATTA), independent tea producers' body of Kenya, and tea associations of Malawi, Bangladesh and Uganda attended the meeting. They voiced concern over stagnating consumption demand in Europe and Asia, the ITA said in a statement. Bangur said, "Africa with its growing population and rising income has the potential to become one of the largest markets for black

Assam small tea growers face uncertainty as factories to stop production

Small tea growers in Assam, who account for nearly half of the tea grown in this North Eastern state, are staring at uncertainty with the bought leaf tea factories (BLFs) to stop procuring their green leaves from next month over quality compliance regulations. The Assam Bought Leaf Tea Manufacturers Association (ABLTMA) had announced shutting down its factories from June one as it is not possible to produce FSSAI-compliant teas from untested green leaves provided by small growers. A Team Board India notification earlier this year made it mandatory for manufacture of only compliant tea by the BLFs. With no testing done of the green leaves, if the made tea is found non-compliant when sent for mandatory public auction, the failed teas will be destroyed with penal action against the BLFs, as per the notification. The small-scale planters, on their part, maintained that they are working on cent per cent compliance by all their members, while urging for more time to ensure it and seeking

Mandatory 100% auction of dust tea grades heats up debate in tea industry

Some packet tea players are reportedly putting pressure on leaf factories to oppose the proposed 100 per cent dust grade auction regulation

Centre directs 100% auction of dust tea grades from North India

Mohit Agarwal, Director, Asian Tea Company, said that the move would make the tea industry "robust and transparent"

McLeod-Carbon pact period ends as debt restructuring talk with banks linger

In August 2023, McLeod reached an understanding with Carbon Resources for the sale of tea estates. The size of the deal pegged at Rs 700 crore was to enable a one-time settlement

Margins of North Indian tea gardens to shrink in FY24, predicts ICRA

Leading credit rating firm ICRA said that tea gardens of North India will suffer from shrinkage in the margins due to rise in input costs and wage hike in West Bengal and Assam during the current fiscal. Margins will also be affected due to low export demand and sluggish rural consumption, ICRA said adding that the outlook for the sector has been revised to negative from stable. The credit rating firm said that all-India auction prices of the orthodox variety in the first 10 months of calendar year 2023 witnessed a significant decline of around Rs 51 per kilogram on a year-on-year basis. The price drop in South India was lower at Rs seven per kilogram during the same period. ICRA said that the slump in orthodox tea realisation was due to lower export demand, primarily from Iran. Similarly, the all-India cumulative auction average of CTC variety also witnessed a decline during the first 10 months of 2023 to the extent of Rs six per kilogram. ICRA said that sluggish rural demand alo

Coca Cola India in tie-up with Luxmi Group's Makaibari for iced green tea

The bottled iced green tea was formally launched on the second and concluding day of the Bengal Global Business Summit

Tea auctioneers form association to safeguard trade rights and interests

About 40 per cent of all tea produced in India is sold through the auction route

McLeod Russel set to focus on Uganda, India estates after Vietnam exit

The company recently signed an agreement for selling its business in Vietnam to TLK Agriculture Joint Stock Company of Vietnam for $2.15 million

Assam govt increases minimum wage of tea garden workers by Rs 18: Sarma

The Assam government has decided to hike the daily minimum wage of tea garden workers by Rs 18, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. During a cabinet meeting chaired by Sarma, the decision was taken to increase the wages in both Brahmaputra and Barak valleys with effect from October 1. "The cabinet decided to increase the minimum daily wages of tea garden workers. In Brahmaputra valley, the daily wage has been increased to Rs 250 from Rs 232 with effect from October 1. In Barak valley, the workers will get Rs 228 instead of Rs 210 from now," he said. Briefing the press after the meeting on Monday, Sarma said the government has given instructions to the garden managements to give a 20-per cent bonus for the ensuing Durga Puja. "There will be a 3-per cent reservation in government jobs for tea garden workers and adivasi people with immediate effect. This will be for only the non-creamy layer," he said. The chief minister also said a decision was taken to create Bajali district b

National Chai Day: History, Importance, Celebration, Quotes for chai lovers

Chai Day is huge as it celebrates the exotic varieties of tea in India. Chai or tea is also referred to as 'masala chai'. It was first presented in Asia as a herbal drink

Sri Lanka's small tea growers contributes around 77% in total production

Sri Lankan minister Ramesh Pathirana on Wednesday said small tea growers contribute around 77 per cent of the island country's total production, and the government is providing subsidiy to the STGs. Speaking at a BIMSTEC event on tea organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here, Pathirana said Sri Lanka is also trying to adopt technology to raise productivity. There is a need to protect the existing markets and also go for value addition. Our government is giving subsidy to the small tea growers to support replantation activity, adoption of technology and best agricultural practices," he said. Most of the tea produced in the island country is exported, and the major exporting destinations include Russia, Turkey and Iran, the minister said. Sri Lanka produced 250 million kg of tea last year, which is expected to go up to 280 million kg in this calendar year, he said. "The biggest challenge is the shrinking global market for tea, Pathirana added. Speaking on the occasion, MD of

Assam tea gardens get Rs 63 crore govt assistance to tackle pandemic losses

The Assam government disbursed Rs 63.05 crore as a financial incentive to 370 tea gardens in the state to help them mitigate the adverse impact of the pandemic. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the tea industry was the backbone of the state's economy, making up nearly 90 per cent of its gross export value, besides providing direct and indirect employment to over a million people. "It is due to the tea industry's huge impact on the economy of Assam that the state government formulated the Assam Tea Industry Special Incentive Scheme, 2020 to help the sector absorb some of the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said at the disbursement programme on Thursday. Apart from providing interest subvention of 3 per cent on working capital loans, the financial grant was aimed at promoting orthodox tea over crush-tear-curl (CTC) tea, he said. Under this scheme, a subsidy of Rs 10 per kg of orthodox and other special varieties of tea have been given, Sarma said. To mark the 200th ..

Grenades, ammunition recovered from Assam tea garden, says police

A cache of grenades and ammunition were recovered from a tea garden in Assam's Dibrugarh district, a senior police official said on Monday. Two Chinese grenades, two magazines of AK-series rifles, 12 bullets and a pistol silencer were recovered from South Jalan tea estate. The items were spotted by garden workers on Sunday night, Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police Shwetank Mishra. We are trying to ascertain to which militant outfit those explosives and ammunition belong. We have interrogated some people but no arrests have been made so far, Mishra added.

'Sudden' lockout declared in Assam tea garden; 500 workers in agitation

About 500 labourers of a tea garden in Assam's Hailakandi district have launched an agitation after the authorities allegedly declared a sudden suspension of operation. The workers of Gaglacherra tea garden, located about 20 kilometres from Hailakandi town, have been protesting against the garden authorities' decision since Thursday following the lockout declared on the previous day. Local administration officials as well as a tea association have initiated steps to sort out the matter between the two sides. A team of officials, comprising magistrate Jhintu Bora and labour officer PK Malakar, visited the garden on Friday and assured the labourers of taking up the matter with the district deputy commissioner. The garden authorities could not be contacted. President of the local panchayat Radheshyam Kurmi alleged that the tea estate authorities secretly put up the lockout notice on Wednesday night and left the premise. Thursday was the payment day and the authorities fleeing in thi

Tea Board seeks Rs 1,000 crore support for industry for five years

'Tea price trajectory of the last decade reflects a prolonged phase of stagnation in price growth which consequently pushed a large segment of the industry into crisis'

Tripura govt to handover abandoned tea gardens to cooperatives

The Tripura government has decided to hand over the abandoned tea gardens to new cooperatives in an effort to revive them, an official said