This is how the crackdown on 'bad tea' could improve tea prices in 2019

Sources among the brokers said that the consumption this year is also expected to improve primarily led by long chilly winters, the General Election and the Ardh Kumbh Mela

In face of an expected 50 million kg (mkg) shortfall of tea, the producing companies are looking at a good opening in this year’s tea auctions when, after a 3-month hiatus, the first flush of tea starts to hit the auction centres early March.

According to the Indian Tea Association (ITA), the apex body for north Indian tea, production was down by 13 mkg during January-October last year and it is expected that the month of November-December will also register another 12 mkg dip in production owing to climatic changes in the tea-rich zones of Assam and northern West Bengal.