The tea planters in North Bengal are staring at a huge financial loss with the tea prices drastically plummeting in the country.
The Bengal tea, which accounts for 35 per cent of the total tea produced in the country, is being sold at a price lower than the cost of production.
"The prices have gone down to Rs 20 per kg and it is happening due to an imbalance between demand and supply of the tea. The demand is less and supply is more. The government should fix a base price for the tea," Prem Kumar Sharma, a tea garden manager, told ANI.
Summit Ghosh, Secretary, Tea Association of India, echoed similar sentiments.
"The cost of production is much more than what we are getting as tea price. As many as five lakh workers are directly or indirectly involved in the tea industry of North Bengal. Tea Board of India (TBI) must fix a base price to solve the problem," Ghost said.
In 2003, 878 million kg of tea was produced in India, while it swelled to 1,338 million kg in 2018, thereby, indicating a sharp 52 per cent in the production. This production has outstripped consumption of tea in the country, leading to stagnant selling prices for tea plantations.
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