Tea Board expects prices to firm up in 2019

The Tea Board is expecting better prices in 2019 on the back of strong fundamentals, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The official also said the board would focus on quality and compliance with new Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms.

S Soundararajan, Director of Tea Promotion, Tea Board, said that production in 2018 was 1,350 million kg.

"We expect the figure to be similar in 2019. Domestic consumption is also growing at 2.2 per cent year-on-year," he told PTI.

As the fundamentals are good, prices are likely to firm up this year, he said.

"Prices should go up. We had stopped plucking in many states during December to February, which has led to a production shortfall of 25 million kg," Soundararajan said.

This, he said, would likely have a positive impact on the prices.

He, however, said prices did not go up as expected last year.

Regarding e-auction, the official said a professor of IIM-Bangalore has been mandated to conduct a study on it.

"The study is likely to be completed shortly, and recommendations are expected to be submitted in April," he said.

About the increasing proportion of production by bought leaf factories (BLF), Soundararajan said this had created a low-end parallel market of sorts.

In West Bengal, the proportion of production by BLFs was close to 50 per cent and over 60 per cent in Assam, with the all-India average being 46-47 per cent, the official said.

On the proposed tea park near Dhamra Port in Odisha, he said tenders were floated thrice for this purpose.

"Each time, there was a single bidder... The matter has been referred to the commerce ministry," the Tea Board official added.