Right now when Sri Lanka is grappling with its financial woes and its tea exports have been hampered, till recently it was seen as the best opportunity for India to strengthen its position in tea exports. But today the situation is reversed.
Indian Tea Leaves Business: India is the second largest producer of tea in the world and also the fourth largest exporter of tea in the world. While China comes first in the production of tea, Sri Lanka has been the first among the exporting countries of tea. Therefore, now that Sri Lanka is grappling with its financial woes and its tea exports have been disrupted, it was seen as the best opportunity for India until recently to consolidate its position in tea exports. But today the situation is reversed, far from increasing exports, there is a fear that there may be a decrease in its exports and because of this, the image of Indian natural products in the world market can also be spoiled.
What is the whole matter?
For some time, Sri Lanka’s tea production was also affected by economic problems. Sri Lanka’s tea production declined sharply due to the country’s electricity problem, as well as a reduction in its exports. Let us tell you that India is the second largest producer of tea in the world as well as the largest consumer of tea. However, it has the potential to increase exports of tea despite being such a large consumer. Despite this, its neighboring country Sri Lanka is at number one because the price of Sri Lankan tea in the world market is very low compared to Indian tea. In such a situation, while India is also trying to help Sri Lanka during its economic crisis, while it was trying to get an edge in the export of tea leaves.
According to a 2019 figure, Sri Lanka has a tea trade of $167 million with Turkey. It exports tea worth $132 million to Russia, $75 million to Iran, $104 million to Iraq and $55 million to China. This trade was disrupted due to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. India was trying to add this trade to its account, but many countries returned Indian tea saying that it was found to be high in pesticide.
While this was a big setback for the Indian tea growers, it also raises the possibility of spoiling the image of Indian products in the world market.
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According to Anshuman Kanoria, President of the Indian Tea Exporters Association (ITEA), the foreign markets have canceled all orders and all the goods that were delivered have been refunded. This has caused a huge loss to the Indian tea growers. He pointed out that since the financial crisis in Sri Lanka, Indian producers had a good chance to establish their own market, but pesticide and chemicals have only led to disappointment.
There is a continuous disturbance in the shipment, the matter came to the fore
During the talks, Kanoria said that tea is a beverage and most of the customers are buying the same tea which has high chemical content. Though the Tea Export Board is trying to get the material right and now the tea leaves will be manufactured as per the norms of FSSAI but all the orders which were delivered are coming back causing huge losses.
European Union more difficult than FSSAI rules
It is more difficult according to the rules of FSSAI Iran and Commonwealth Independent States Nation have been India’s old customers, in which India produced 195.90 million kg in the last year i.e. 2021, but the European Union has set a target of buying 300 million tea this year. Kanoria said that despite having such a tough rule, India is following all the rules.
Why is there again and again disturbances in tea leaves?
There has been a lot of change in the weather conditions in the last few years, there is a constant drought like situation during the summer, as well as the monsoon rains do not take the name of stopping. Due to this, germs get in the petal, due to which even after breaking the leaves, a part of the germ remains.
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