Tea exports rises 2.3% to Rs 34.96 billion in January-September period

India's tea exports rose marginally to 173.80 million kilos during the January-September period this year from 173.52 million kilos exported during the same period last year, according to data from the Tea Board India.

Provisional data from the Board also suggested that tea export, in value terms, during the nine-month period was up by about 2.3 per cent to Rs 34.96 billion as against Rs 34.17 billion in the year-ago period.

Exports to neighbouring Pakistan and China went up while the shipments to Germany and CIS countries were down.

Tea exports to neighbouring Pakistan stood at 11.69 million kilos in the period, up by over 28 per cent from 9.13 million kilos exported in the corresponding months of 2017.

The crop exports to China during the period were up at 6.67 million kilos as against 5.59 million kilos in the same period last year .

The board data also said tea shipments to CIS countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and others, were at 43.91 million kilos in the January-September period of 2018, down from 47.41 million kilos.

Exports to the UK at 10.33 million kilos were up marginally in the period under review, as against 9.66 million kilos shipped out in the year-ago period while exports at 6.69 million kilos to Germany during the period were down marginally from 7.47 million kilos exported in the corresponding months of 2017.

Tea exports to Iran also went down to 19.12 million kilos in the period under review, from 19.28 million kilos in the year-ago period. As much as 9.08 million kilos of tea was shipped out to Egypt during the first nine months of the current calendar year, up from 7.27 million kilos in the year-ago period.