Tata Tea In Export Talks With Tetley

In a bid to expand its global share in the packet tea segment, Tata Tea Ltd is negotiating with its joint venture partner, Lyons Tetley of the United Kingdom, for allowing it to export its packet tea brands to the countries where only the

Tata Tetley brands are now exported.

According to the existing agreement that Tata Tea has with Tetley, a number of overseas markets are not being tapped by the tea major for marketing its own brands; for example, the flagship brand, Tata Tea.

But the company is now gearing up to boost the presence of its brands in Europe, Australia and Canada.

With a special thrust on the packet tea segment, Tata Tea has planned to launch a number of brands in the current year

both in the tea and coffee segments.

The company has put equal emphasis on pushing coffee.

Hindustan Lever Ltd, which has the largest tea business in the world in volume terms and is a key player in the packet tea segment, is a major competition for Tata Tea.

In 1997-98, the company followed an aggressive marketing strategy and its packet tea division bettered its earlier records by achieving an increase in sales of more than 10 per cent over the previous year against the industry growth of 4 per cent.

Some of its brands such as Chakra Gold achieved substantial growth during the year.

Other brands of the company, which are extremely popular in south India, are Kannan Devan and Gemini.

Last year, as a result of the initiatives taken by Tata Tea Inc in the US, its sales of instant tea in the American markets

improved by more than

100 per cent over the previous year.

In 1997-98, its total income rose to Rs 896 crore from Rs 717 crore in the previous year -- representing an increase of approximately 25 per cent.

While its profit before tax was Rs 144 crore, its net profit was Rs 102 crore.

Last year the company's estates produced 62.4 million kg of tea compared to 59.7 million kg last year representing a growth of 4.5 per cent.