McLeod Russel Sells Its Tea Garden

'Tea price trajectory of the last decade reflects a prolonged phase of stagnation in price growth which consequently pushed a large segment of the industry into crisis'

For the first time in the company's history, McLeod Russel, the world's largest tea producer has sold off one of its gardens in the Dooars area which was making losses, to reduce the debt burden on the company.The loss making Bhatpara Tea Estate, which annually churns around Rs. 15.53 crore for the company accounting for 1.11 per cent of the topline, was under the management's review for some years and after consideration, the company decided to sell it off at a consideration of Rs. 13.21 crore. It is spread across 604.14 hectares and produces 987,371 kilogram of tea annually.Asked if the company's other loss making gardens will be sold off too, Aditya Khaitan, the company's managing director said, "From time to time, we review the performance of each of our gardens and the based on that, the call to sell it off was taken".However, he didn't clarify if the company intends to sell other loss making gardens in the near future too.The company has 64 tea estates, most of which are ...