Tea Board targets 300 mn kg of tea exports by 2025, says Chairman

“The plan is to achieve exports of 240 million kg in 2022-2023 and we are targeting 300 million kg by 2025,” said Saurav Pahari, chairman and deputy chairman, Tea Board.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a special event to mark International Tea Day, organised jointly by the Tea Board in collaboration with the Indian Tea Association (ITA).

In 2021, India clocked exports of around 195.5 million kg, one of its lowest levels. The Tea Board has presented a draft Vision 2030 document to the Ministry of Commerce which sets out the course for the Tea Board in association with the industry. It also focuses on export-led growth for the industry.

Boosting consumption in the domestic market will, however, also be a major part. “We need to ramp up domestic consumption by at least 30 per cent more and pushing up domestic consumption will be one of the main promotional thrusts,” said Pahari.

A major part of Vision 2030 is to focus on promotion of tea both in the domestic and export markets.

Pahari said that the tea industry needs to reinvent itself to address the next generation. “We have presented the draft document to the ministry along with a budget and promotion is a huge part of it,” said Pahari.

“There is a massive need for the industry to understand that the market is not what it used to be. Consumer preferences have changed; there is a younger lot which is now the consumer base who perhaps don’t know tea the way the older generation knew. The tea industry has to appeal to them,” said the Tea Board chairman.

On exports, Indian tea will aggressively compete with Kenya and Sri Lanka, and also explore markets that have not been aggressively targeted so far.

“We are planning to explore North America, Western Europe, Canada, Korea,” said Pahari.

The reason why the Indian tea industry hasn’t reached out to these markets "aggressively" in the past is because it had its “comfort zones” explained Pahari.

The “comfort zones” for the industry are Russia and Iran – the top two buyers of Indian tea – but exporters in both the markets are faced with payment issues in both markets.

To make Indian tea more marketable in the export markets, the Tea Board is in the process of developing a model or an app in tandem with the industry that will help track the entire supply chain.

“International customers should know exactly from which garden the leaf has come from. That lends a lot of credibility to the Indian product,” said Pahari.

Atul Asthana, vice chairman, Indian Tea Association (ITA), pointed out that the exercise could start with teas from single estates.

Globally, there is a growing demand for sustainable teas. Speaking at the event, Nayantara Palchoudhuri, chairperson, ITA, said that sustainability of the tea sector is no longer just about profitability but one that also takes into consideration the well-being of all stakeholders – be it preserving natural resources in the face of climate change threats or meeting the growing aspirations and improving the standards of living of the vast workforce and to ensure that the consumers get a safe and healthy beverage.

Palchoudhuri also added that remunerative tea prices for producers is extremely critical for long term sustainability of the industry. 

Addressing the event virtually, Anupriya Patel, minister of state for commerce & industry, said that globally, the trend is moving towards better quality and organic teas and this is an issue which needs to be looked into very closely.