Tea Board to spend Rs 3 crore on promotion campaigns

The Tea Board plans to embark on a high-profile campaign to promote the consumption of tea among the masses, particularly youngsters.

Inaugurating the National Convention on South India Tea- 2006, Tea Board chairman, Basudeb Banerjee said an amount of Rs 3 crore would be spent on the campaign for generic promotion of tea as a health drink. The campaign would be launched by the end of the month, he added.

"India is the largest market for tea and it is high time we focused on the domestic market," he said, pointing out that the consumption of tea was increasing in the country. He said youngsters, who are lured by colas, could be made aware of the advantages of drinking tea as it was natural, fresh, healthy, and far superior to other beverages.

Banerjee said the country produced around 928 million kg of tea every year, of which more than 25 per cent was from South India. Half the production from the South was exported. He also added that South India was the most ethical producer of tea as the industry in the region was paying higher wages and providing educational and health benefits to workers.

Commenting on the Special Purpose Tea Fund (SPTF), which was proposed by the Ministry of Commerce for the replantation and rejuvenation of tea bushes for the next 15 years, Banerjee said the replantation of tea bushes would be done on 200,000 hectares and the Rs 100 crore fund, earmarked in the Budget, would be disbursed in six months time.

"On the export front, we are looking at Pakistan and Egypt for short and medium term markets. The Indian tea industry is also cashing in on the shortfall in Kenyan tea production by supplying more CTC grades to these markets at a good price," he added.

Commenting on the demand-supply scenario in the Indian tea industry, he said even though the supply was good, the demand had always been underestimated. As such, the Board has asked IIM- Kolkata to assess the real supply demand scenario and submit a report by the end of April 2006.

Outlining the challenges facing the industry, he mentioned that besides issues concerning grading, packaging and quality, presence of impurities needed to be addressed. The industry should focus on manufacturing process, quality registration and upgradation of machinery.

The frequent technical snag in the electronic auction system is another issue of concern and the Board is planning to rejig the software. The National Stock Exchange is researching in this regard and is expected to come out with details in a month, according to him.

Earlier, a Chinese delegation visited Indian plantations to study green tea and machineries. Now, the Tea Board is also thinking of sending a delegation to Pakistan and Egypt to study the market trends there.