PRODUCTION -- 28:
INDIA HEADING FOR A LOWER TEA PRODUCTION THIS YEAR
P S SUNDAR
India’s tea
production which, till August, followed the trend of posting a new record year
after year, has failed to adhere to this
norm at September end.
September proved to
be a disastrous month for North India even as production fell marginally in
South India as well following adverse weather conditions.
“Tea Board has now
released the September production data which shows that India lost 44.17
million kg (mkg) over September 2016 to total 145.83 mkg. Of this,
North India lost 42.14 mkg to produce 127.54 mkg while South India lost 2.03
mkg to produce 18.29 mkg”, Rajesh Gupta, compiler of annual Global Tea
Digest, told me..
“Consequently, our
compilation shows that at the end of the first three quarters of current year,
India’s production has fallen to 912.55 mkg from 923.27 mkg, marking a marginal
fall of 1.16 per cent”, he said.
Helped by higher
production in earlier months, South India’s overall output in the ten months
has increased over the corresponding period of 2016 but North India is trailing
behind last year.
In the ten months,
North India lost 25.79 mkg to produce 737.87 mkg. Assam lost as much as
23.33 mkg but topped India’s production table at 464.29 mkg
South India produced
15.07 mkg more to reach 174.68 mkg. Here, Tamil Nadu produced 124.80 mkg
(up by 13.22 mkg) and Kerala 46.08 mkg (up by 2.03 mkg).
As of now, industry
sources estimate the country’s production in the current year to be around 1257
mkg in 2017 – some 10 mkg less than 2016. If this happens, it will
be for the first time in recent many years that India’s production will be less
than the previous year.
(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)
