India, egypt must renew historical tea bonds: Indian envoy

India shares very strong political and economic ties with Egypt and the time has come for the two countries to renew their "bonds of tea", India's ambassador here said today.
Speaking at a seminar at the mega annual cultural festival 'India by the Nile', Ambassador Sanjay Bhattacharyya said India was the largest producer of black tea and can be the largest possible provider to Egypt is one of its large consumers.
He said though the volume of Indian tea sold in Egypt had grown to 9 million kgs last year, it was still short of 2008's figure of 13 million kgs.

"We are today the largest producer of black tea. And Egypt is a large consumer of black tea. So we are your largest possible provider," Bhattacharyya said, adding that India offers a variety of flavours of the tea.
"We have very strong political and economic ties overall. There is a historical relationship between Indian tea and the Egyptian market. In fact, tea came to Egypt from India. So its time to renew our bonds of tea, he said.
India is world's second largest tea producer while Egypt is one of the top consumers with an annual consumption of over 1 kg per person. India can offer a wide variety of tea as per Egyptian taste and preferences at a very competitive price, he added.

"My objective is to see India become the leading supplier of tea in the Egyptian market. We need to be number one in this market, the ambassador said.

Shyamal Misra, Joint Secretary Department of Commerce, Government of India & Deputy Chairman of Tea Board of India said that Egypt was an important market that is showing growth.
Misra is in Egypt as part of a 23-member tea delegation led by him.
The delegation's visit is aimed at exploring avenues to increase the bilateral trade between India and Egypt in tea sector.
"We came with a strong Indian tea delegation and people here have shown a lot of interest. So, thats a good sign," he told PTI on the sidelines of a seminar entitled "India Tea Promotion Seminar and Buyer Seller Meet (BSM),which was held in Cairo yesterday as part of 'India by the Nile" festival.

"The Egyptian economy seems to be on a recovery path. The exchange rate seems to have stabilised and new vat implosion has also helped in improving the market. In the coming months it should strengthen and that will be good for the tea industry, Misra said.
Misra also added that people have seen a shift in consumer preference especially among the youngsters towards green tea or other healthier forms like fruit and herbal teas.
"We came to have face to face interaction so I think its a step in the right direction towards further cooperation," he said.
During the seminar, which was attended by the Egyptian businessmen, traders and other major players in the industry, Misra showed a presentation on the history and the variety of tea types and flavours in India.

Alaa Fahmy, chairman of food industries holding company, who attended the seminar, said that the historical relations and keenness between the two countries in achieving more cooperation offer a strong base for a new economic ties.
The exports of Indian tea to Egypt increased considerably during 2017 to 9.8 7 million kilogrammes (mkg) from 3.71 mkg in 2016.