Tea industry is looking at declining exports in 2021The tea industry is bracing fora decline in exports to the tune of 30-40 million kg this yearas compared to 2020, due to the availability of low-costvarieties in the global market and amid trade restrictions incountries that have traditionally been strong importers,industry sources said.The coronavirus-induced economic downturn in much ofthe world is also a factor for falling shipments, they said.For the period between January to March this year,exports fell by 13.23 per cent as against the correspondingperiod a year ago, and by 29.03 per cent compared to 2019, as per Tea Board India data.Altogether, 45.86 million kg tea was exported fromIndia between January to March in 2021.
The figure was 52.85million kg in 2020 and 64.62 million kg in 2019.The dip in the share of shipments from North India hasbeen more compared to South India since the last three years.While the tea export share of South India fell by 5.41per cent in 2021 between January and March compared to thesame period in 2020, the decline was 25.85 per cent comparedto 2019.In case of exports from North India, the figure forthe three-month period was lower by 17.83 per cent as against2020 and 31.04 per cent compared to 2019."Indian exports have suffered in the last two-threeyears due to very low prices of Kenyan and Sri Lankan tea.Kenyan tea auction price average is below $2dollars per kg, which is much lesser than our auctionaverage," Dinesh Bihani, secretary, Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers Association (GTABA), said.