The Indian Tea Association and small tea growers have raised concerns over massive import of tea into the country.
During a stakeholder meeting at the Tea Board head office in the city on Tuesday, the ITA and Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Associations (CISTA) raised this before L Satya Srinivas Raju, special secretary, commerce department and chairman of Tea Board.
They sought govt action in curbing the massive import and re-export of “fake Indian tea”. ITA chairman Hemant Bangur said it had raised red flag about the import of tea, specially from African countries.
CISTA is the national apex body representing more than three lakh small tea growers across 12 state federation bodies from Bengal and other states. Other issues flagged at the meeting included approval of some agro chemicals to combat green fly, price realisation, the need for a generic campaign and the branding of Indian tea.
Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, president of CISTA, said: “Last year, we witnessed massive growth in the import of tea, mainly from Kenya, Uganda, Nepal and other countries. A lion’s share of the imported tea is used in the domestic market while the rest is exported overseas in the name of Indian tea.”
Along with CISTA and ITA, Tea Association of India, Federation of All India Tea Traders Association and Auction Association were also present at the meeting. They pointed out that small tea growers were yet to get a fair green leaf price because of the present price determination.
Prabir Kumar Bhattacharjee, secretary general of TAI, said: “The formula takes into account the average auction price of the previous month, but this does not represent a correct pricing for the green leaf. The matter needs to be addressed.”