The Hindu : Business : Tea producers urged to improve quality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 28, 2007
ePaper

Business

Business

Tea producers urged to improve quality

Staff Reporter

Concern over price difference issue

Manufacturing process in South should improve
Sri Lankan tea fetches higher prices

KOCHI: In 2006, Kochi continued to maintain its pre-eminence among the tea auction centres, with 49.44 per cent of the total auction sales in South India, while Coonoor accounted for 31.15 per cent and Coimbatore made up the balance of 19.14 per cent, said J. K.Thomas, Chairman, Tea Trade Association of Cochin. He was addressing the 15th annual general meeting of the association here on Tuesday.

The total quantity of tea sold through the Cochin auctions during 2006 was 59.4 million kg. compared to 60.9 million kg. in 2005, a decline of 1.5 million kgs.

Price dissimilarity

The average price realised from the Cochin auction centre remained the highest during 2006 at Rs. 54.40 as against Rs. 47.77 for Coonoor and Rs. 49.38 for Coimbatore. The average price realised in South India during 2006 was Rs. 51.36 whereas in North India, it was Rs. 71.62.

The difference in price between the South Indian and North Indian tea remained above Rs. 20 in 2006 as well as 2005. This is an issue that the producers in South India should address seriously.

ISO certification

The quality of the raw material and the manufacturing process in South India should improve substantially. For this to happen, the tea needed to be qualified for ISO certification. It was noteworthy that the Sri Lankan tea fetched prices higher than that of the North Indian tea. Sri Lankan had similar agro climatic conditions as in South India but their manufacturing and marketing are ahead, he said.

The South Indian tea production in 2006 was 226.28 million kg as against 227 million kgs in 2005, a decrease of 0.72 million kgs.

The North Indian tea production for 2006 was 729.62 million kgs as against 700.97 million kgs in 2005, an increase of 28.65 million kgs.

Among the tea producing States of South India, Kerala registered a production of 68.76 million kgs in 2006 as against 67.03 million kgs in 2005.

Karnataka registered a production of 5.26 million kgs in 2006 as against 5.37 million kgs in 2005.

Tamil Nadu’s production stood at 152.26 million kgs in 2006 as against 154.60 million kgs in the previous year.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business