Assam Speaker inaugurates Jorhat tea auction platform

Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly H N Goswami on Wednesday inaugurated the Jorhat e-auction platform for tea launched by the Tea Board of India.

He said with the launch of the e-auction platform, the board has fulfilled a long-felt need of tea producing districts of Assam.

"I sincerely express my gratitude to the Tea Board of India for addressing the long-pending demand of the people of upper Assam in general and Jorhat in particular," Goswami said.

The first tea auction centre in Assam was set up in Guwahati in 1970.

"In these last 50 years, the tea production of Assam increased three times and hence the people of Upper Assam and the Assam-based tea associations demanded a new age auction centre at Jorhat," Goswami said.

Assam produces about 716 million kg of tea annually, accounting for 52 per cent of the country's production.

Six contiguous districts of Assam -- Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia -- produce about 450 million kg of tea annually.

The Jorhat e-auction platform is an initiative of the Tea Board of India and M-junction services is the implementing agency.

Mjunction is a B2B e-commerce company promoted by SAIL and Tata Steel as a 50:50 venture.

With Jorhat, there are now eight tea auction centres in the country. The other seven are Kolkata, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Guwahati, Coimbatore, Coonoor and Kochi.