Commerce minister to meet tea industry stakeholders in Bengal

Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman will meet the stakeholders in the tea industry in Siliguri in north Bengal on Sunday to understand the problems of the industry.

"She will be visiting two tea gardens in the state and will hold meetings with the stakeholders in the tea industry on Sunday to discuss the problems in the trade", director of tea development at Tea Board of India S. Soundararajan told IANS.

He is accompanying the minister on her visit to the tea estates in north Bengal.

She is visiting the Red Bank Tea Estate and Surendranagar Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal.

He said the minister has already visited tea estates in Guwahati in Assam to discuss the pressing problems and understand the situation.

Various tea producing firms have expressed concern about tea production due to the predicted below average rainfall this year after the previous year's rain scarcity.

"We hope this year the rains will be better and tea production will return to optimal levels", director of McLeod Russel, Kamal Baheti, had told IANS on a previous occasion.

According to the Indian Tea Association (ITA), tea production closed 15 million kg lower during the fiscal year 2014 compared to the previous year.

"The production in Assam Valley in 2014 had declined by 35 million kg below the previous year (2013)", ITA said in a statement.

Besides scant rainfall, labour problems have also been a pressing issue in the state's tea gardens.

Seven tea gardens in the state have been closed.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

avr/vip/bg