KOCHI: Tea exports from India have failed to exceed 200 million kg in 2009, like it did last year after a long gap. The total tea exports touched191.49 million kg for the year, showing a deficit of 11.63 million kg over 2008.
While the north Indian tea exports showed a decline, the south Indian tea exports looked up mainly due to active buying by Iraq and other Asian countries such as Pakistan. The north Indian tea exports stood at 98.7 million kg compared with 116.2 million kg in 2008.
The south Indian tea exports reached 92.7 million kg, up by almost 6 million kg over the previous year.Interestingly, the first six months saw sluggish buying of south Indian tea, which has been attributed to recession. But after June, there has been a steady growth in south Indian tea exports, according to exporters.
The major buyer has been Iraq. Though the official figures are not available, exporters said the country has purchased substantial quantities of Indian tea. Iraq was the major buyer of Indian tea about four years ago. But in the subsequent years, the purchase by Iraq nosedived because of internal problems. In 2009, the purchase has picked up again.
The CIS continues to be the largest buyer of Indian tea, mostly the north Indian variety. The decline in the purchase of CIS has affected the north Indian tea export.
Iran, Pakistan, the UAE, the UK were the other major importers of Indian tea. Pakistan’s offtake dwindled towards the end of the year. Egypt, another major buyer of Indian tea in 2008, was not active last year.
The Indian tea production during 2009 slid marginally to 979 million kg, down by just over 1 million kg. However, the other main global tea producers like Kenya and Sri Lanka have experienced a sizeable drop in production. The Indian tea production, like in the case of export, went up steadily from middle of the year.
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