FOR THE REOCRD -- 91:
EXPORTS -- 3
OMICRON VARIANT THREAT MAY HIT INDIA’S WINTER TEA EXPORTS:
LOW CHRISTMAS SALES FEARED
By P S SUNDAR
The threat of various stages of lockdown and closure of
entry for foreigners and foreign goods in many countries due to the now-spreading
Omicron variant of coronavirus is causing a new challenge and concern to India’s
tea exports.
“Although it is too early to gauge
the impact of Omicron on India’s tea shipments, we are concerned that Christmas
markets are being closed in some European countries for fear of the spread of
coronavirus in any variant form. Over a
dozen countries have taken precautionary measures to close borders at least for
a few days now”, L Vairavan, an exporter told me.
“Some parts of Germany have announced
that rising Covid-19 cases is causing so much concern that protecting people is
their priority for which lockdown is imposed.
We fear that this will have a cascading impact in other parts of Europe
as well. Transport restrictions mean
lesser possibility to export tea”, he said.
Generally, when winter
builds up in Europe and more so in the CIS with waterways freezing, transportation
becomes difficult and tea exports suffer. Last
year also, Covid lockdown along with harsh winter in such countries affected smooth
trade for Indian tea.
“Many countries used to
import our tea ahead of Christmas to build stocks during harsh winter but this
year, exporters had a testing time with shortage of sea containers and
prohibitive transportation cost. In some
cases, importers pointed out that transportation cost was more than the tea in
the container”, Vairavan said.
Till August, the latest
period for which Tea Board’s official data are available, the price of exported
Indian tea rose to an average of ₹ 272.92 a kg from 230.84 in Jan-Aug 2020,
marking an increase of 18.23 per cent.
But, the higher price
pulled down the volume shipped to 118.84 million kg (mkg) from 134.47 mkg in
Jan-Aug 2020 – a decline of 11.62 per cent.
However, because of the
higher price, the overall earnings from exports rose to ₹ 3,243.37 crore from ₹
3,140.04 crore in Jan-Aug 2020 – a gain of 4.49 per cent.
Germany matters a lot
to Indian tea exports price-wise and earnings-wise. Germany is among the few countries which
bought a higher volume of tea from India this year paying a higher price than last
year. This year, Germany imported 5.78
mkg (Jan- Aug: 5.16 mkg) at ₹ 343.84 a kg (₹ 250.47 a kg) spending ₹ 198.74
crore (₹ 129.24 crore).
The CIS continued to
top India’s tea export table but with a lower volume, price and value than last
calendar. CIS imported 28.18 mkg (34.51
mkg) at ₹ 188.44 a kg (₹ 164.97) spending ₹ 531.02 crore (₹ 569.32).
Volume-wise, Iran
followed at 15.47 mkg (23.87 mkg) paying ₹ 254.74 a kg (₹ 267.23) and spending
₹ 394.08 crore (₹ 637.87 crore).
Price-wise, Ireland
paid the highest price of ₹ 748.65 a kg (₹ 742.59).
Value-wise, next to the
CIS, the USA topped at ₹ 408.23 crore (₹ 254.40 crore).
also reachable by clicking:
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/omicron-threat-may-hit-indias-winter-tea-exports/article37783769.ece
(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)
