KOLKATA: Prices of CTC tea produced by the bought leaf factories (BLF) across the major tea producing states of the country have shown a decline in February as compared to January this year, Tea Board sources said.
In January 2019, the average prices obtained by BLF across all the districts of Arunachal Pradesh was 138.97 per kilogram, as compared Rs 108.36 per kilogram in the same state in the following month, they said.
Prices at BLF in the largest tea producing state of Assam also showed a decline in some areas.
While in January, the prices at Cachar was 144.43 per kilogram, it declined to 130.50 per kilogram in the subsequent month.
In Goalpara in Assam, the prices registered in February was the highest across all BLFs in India at Rs 137.95 per kilogram, it was lower at Rs 111.17 per kilogram in the previous month, the sources said.
Regarding West Bengal, prices had fallen in February as compared to those in January.
In January 2019, the prices of tea at BLFs were Rs 114.46 per kilogram in Darjeeling plains, whereas for the subsequent month this had been Rs 100.54 per kilogram.
Similar trend had been observed at Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri where the prices for January and February were Rs Rs 110.75 (Rs 118.69) and Rs 104.66 per kilogram (Rs 117.91), according to sources.
In the last month December of 2018, the prices of BLF was the highest at Rs 191 per kilogram registered in Arunachal Pradesh, while in Assam it was Rs 155.51 per kilogram while in Darjeeling plains in West Bengal it was Rs 124 per kilogram, they said.
The apex industry body of tea planters Indian Tea Association (ITA) had expressed concern that the proportion of production by BLFs were in excess of 50 per cent of the overall which had the potential to cause disruption in the market.