GUWAHATI: The Tea Association of India has said that the production of tea in Assam and West Bengal might fall by 50% if the two states do not receive sufficient and well-distributed rainfall immediately.
The statement was based on the data released by the Tea Board of India. The data indicated a drop of production of around 40% in Assam and around 23% in West Bengal upto March this year when compared to the figures during the same period last year.
“Due to lack of rainfall and high temperature, the region has witnessed significant wilting of tea bushes, which indicates further crop loss in the coming months,” said Prabir K Bhattacharjee, who is the secretary general of Tea Association of India.
He said according to the estimates, if the two states do not receive sufficient and well-distributed rainfall immediately, the crop loss could be in excess of 50% in the coming months.
Bhattacharjee said while the average rainfall in the two states was significantly low in February, the data published by the Indian Meteorological Department for March 1 to May 13 showed less rainfall, ranging from 2% to 76%, in the major tea-growing districts.
“Since tea is a rain-fed crop, not receiving sufficient rain during these important months hampers the production of its premium first flush and second flush and the loss of crop will severely affect the cash flows of companies,” he said.
He added this loss of crop is not commensurate with strong price recovery, stating that while there is a marginal improvement in the all-India auction average price in the last 2 sales, the weekly average price has fallen by Rs 6-33 in all sales this calendar year.
According to Bhattacharjee, the strange phenomenon of drop in crop production with no concomitant rise in prices is in stark contrast to the 2020 scenario when a drop in production due to the Covid pandemic closure caused sharp rise in the realisation of tea prices.
“The industry stands at a crossroad where it is committed to producing a ‘compliant tea’, and therefore, welcomes the recent flurry of notifications and actions initiated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in notifying ‘chemicals’ which are banned in tea,” he said.
The FSSAI notified 20 chemicals “in addition to 33 chemicals specified for tea” which are banned in India.