Tea Industry Needs Quality Improvement To Regain Export Competitiveness: Official

New Delhi, Sept 9 (KNN) The Indian tea industry needs focus on improving quality in order to ‘claw back’ ground lost to competitors in the export market, Amardeep Singh Bhatia, additional secretary, ministry of commerce, government of India, said.

Addressing the 140th annual general meeting of the Indian Tea Association (ITA),Bhatia pointed out India’s share in world export has declined over the years.

“Our competitors from Kenya, Sri Lanka have increased their share in the global markets during the period,” the secretary, who joined the AGM virtually from Delhi, said.

He also pointed out that India’s share in world production has also gone down steadily. “Now, China has increased its production and become Number One by a wide margin. Kenya has also emerged as a large producer and Sri Lanka has consolidated its position,” Bhatia added.

The secretary exhorted the producers to focus on quality and value addition in exports, reported Telegraph.

Tea Board deputy-chairman Saurav Pahari, who also joined the AGM virtually from Calcutta, urged producers to focus on brand building and move up the value chain. He also suggested that the century old tea industry collaborate with start-ups for fresh ideas.

“They have new, fresh and out-of-the-box ideas that the traditional tea industry can profit from and start-ups can also profit from the experience that the traditional industry brings to business,” Pahari said.

Indian exports stood at 231 million kilogrammes in 2022, mainly on the back of gains in the CIS and UAE markets, Nayantara Palchoudhuri, ITA chairperson said.

She said exports were constricted by lower off-take from Iran and competitive pressure from Kenya (CTC), Sri Lanka (orthodox), Indonesia and Vietnam, who all have lower costs of operations.

Increasing exports by strengthening India’s footprint in traditional overseas markets and exploring newer markets were listed by Palchoudhuri as key action areas going forward.  (KNN Bureau)