PROMOTION - 4:: 

INDIAN TEA DELEGATION RETURNS FROM RUSSIA WITH ENCOURAGING RESPONSE

BY P S SUNDAR.

On Feb 2, 2015, I had posted in this Blog my article on the proposed visit of Indian delegation to Russia.   The delegation has since returned with some encouraging reports.

The visit of the delegation was guided by Tea Board’s Moscow office.

The delegation’s visit coincided with ‘Prodexpo 2015’, the largest trade event in Moscow.  Tea Board of India held a stall at the expo in which Premiers Tea India Ltd., Godfrey Philips India Ltd., Golden Tips India Ltd., Vikrama Impex, Jayshree Tea,  JFK International, Limtex India Ltd. and Arrum Enterprises participated.  

There were individual booths represented by Sanjeev Jha (Primiers Tea), Sajeev Roy (Jayshree Tea), Bala Sarda (Golden Tips India), Raman Jha (JFK International), Rajesh Sonkar (Vikrama Impex), Saren Raju (Arrum Enterprises), Puneet Ratana (Godfrey Philips) and Niraj Kumar (Limtex indie Ltd).  Prospective buyers, distributors and marketing personnel of tea industry in Russia and neighbouring countries were said to have visited these stalls and booths. 

The Indian delegation comprised Vijay Jaganath (Mc Leod Russel), Sajeev Roy, (Jayshree Tea), Kapil Sharma (Vikrama Impex), Nirad Kumar Bagla (North Western Cachar Tea Company), Mudit Rajoria (Baghmarhi Group of Plantations), Indranil Mukerjee (Godfrey Philips India Ltd) and Bala Sarda (Golden Tips).

Indian Tea Industry representatives in Moscow, Baskaran Radakrishnan (JV Gokul), Anupam Mishra (Kayans Tea), Praveen Kumar (Indu Tea), Niraj Kumar (Nargis Tea) also represented Indian Tea delegation at various meetings.

Members of Indian Tea delegation had successful meetings with tea companies based in Moscow and St Petersburg including Ahamed Tea, Mai Company, Orimi Trade, Nadin Tea, Riston, Rubin Tea, Retail Chains like 7 Continent, members of Rusteacoffee association and Government bodies like Russian Customs, Rospatent and Rospotrebzdnaor and Central Bank of Russia.

The Buyer-Seller Meet was attended by representatives from different companies including Forsman Tea, Unitea, Ahmed Tea, Tea Land , Tea house, RCH K Trading, Nadin, RIston, Ahmed Tea, Rubin Tea, Tea Funny, Moscow Tea Factory, ‘7 Continent’ and distributors of Limtex

  

During the meeting with Riston, Director of Riston Russia, Sampat, gave brief power point presentation while Tea Board appraised about the latest development in quality control. Tea samples were exchanged between Riston and members of the delegation for further examination. The delegation also visited the factory and flavouring units of Nadin Tea and had an interaction with Directors Alexander Levishit and Varvara Rassakova.  It visited Ahmed Tea Factory and had meeting with Mahdi Mansourfrar, Factory-in-charge. Meeting with Company May was coordinated by Roman Pulchuk, Director Raw Material Procurement. Mai company meets 60 per cent of its demand by volume from import of Indian Tea, mainly south Indian Tea.

India Tea delegation presented a professional Tea tasting session for the general public at a cultural village Ethanomir, some 130 km away from Moscow city. Victoria Drannikova, professional Tea Taster of Universal Food Technologies conducted tasting and sampling session.   People said that they got an opportunity to learn more about various types and brands of Indian Teas meant for Russian Market.

Some of the striking features that have arisen from the delegation’s meetings were:

1. Encouraging reports on the quality of Indian tea exported to Russia ::  The delegation met the officials of Russian quality control department Rospotrebnazdor.  The authorities informed the Indian delegation that so far they have not received a single complaint on quality or food safety aspects on Indian Teas and they are satisfied with the quality parameters and standards maintained for Indian Tea.

2. The delegation also discussed with the authorities concerned regarding protection of trademarks and Geographical Indicators (GI) pertaining to Origin Tea like Nilgiris, Assam and Darjeeling.   Russian authorities have agreed to extend the benefit for registration of Trademarks and GI for Indian tea as available to WTO member countries.

3. The officials of Federal Customs Service department have agreed to hold a meeting soon to recommend ways for speedy clearance of sample consignments and also speedy refund of excess duties levied.

4. At the meeting with the officials of Russian Tea and Coffee Importers’ Association, Rusteacoffee Association, both the countries strongly recommended for rupee-rouble trade for Indian tea exports.

5. The Joint Working Group dealing with Central Bank of Russia will submit its recommendation in April 2015 for settlement in national currencies to Central Bank of Russia and Reserve bank of India.

6.  Another interesting outcome was the announcement of Russian retail chain major “7 Continent” to submit a proposal to Tea Board for promotion of exclusive Indian Tea brands in its Nash hypermarket in 156 outlets in 13 cities across Russia.  Vernonika Melinikova and Elena Rudkova, Directors of ‘7 Continent’, led the discussion.

These are regarded as important developments as Russia, along with CIS, is the largest importer of Indian tea.  The visit will be tellingly successful if it ends up in more shipment of Indian tea to Russia fetching higher returns.