Mixed Bag For Tea Industry In 2024

Kolkata: The tea industry is likely to witness a fall in total production by over 100 million kg this year due to erratic weather conditions coupled with early annual closure of gardens, resulting in an increase in cost per kg for planters, stakeholders said on Monday. However, the silver lining this year was better price realisation and growing exports. As compared to around 1,178 million kg output during the first 10 months of 2023, the country produced around 1,112 million kg of tea in the January-October period of the current calendar year, while exports were expected to touch 240-250 million kg in 2024, up from around 231 million kg in the previous year, they said.

The production is down by around 66 million kg during the January-October period in 2024, while there is expected to be a dip in production by another 45-50 million kg as plucking has been stopped after November, Indian Tea Association chairman Hemant Bangur said. Despite geo-political challenges and currency issues, India’s tea exports were healthy and the rise in shipment was due to a high-risk appetite of merchants, Indian Tea Exporters Association chairman Anshuman Kanoria said.

“The performance of the tea industry this year was not very good as crop output was down while per kg cost of production was up with the costs mostly being fixed and there was no commensurating increase in price. The industry was in the red in 2023, and the situation now is better than last year but the industry is not out of the doldrums,” Bangur told PTI. The companies had incurred huge losses across geographical locations in 2023 and the industry will probably break even this year, he said.

“In Assam, producers may make some marginal profit or break even but in north Bengal, they will still be in red... This year, there will be a 110-120 mkg dip in production as compared to last year,” he said. Claiming that climate change and erratic weather conditions are affecting the crop output, Tea Research Association (TRA) has advised the industry to enhance soil health, create water bodies through rainwater harvesting and enhance shade status for achieving good microclimate conditions in tea estates.