Tea crop affected in north India due to rains: TAI

Terai crop also showed a decrease of 19.03 percent in June 2022 at 17.15 million kg as against 21.18 million kg in June 2021, the spokesman said. The association said concomitant with the crop loss in June, the industry had been affected by the rise in daily wages by Rs 30 per worker in North Bengal.

The tea-producing belt of north India, comprising the regions of Assam and North Bengal, has been battered by severe rainfall, according to the Tea Association of India (TAI), an apex body of tea planters in the country.

A spokesman for TAI said that the north India region produces 81 percent of the country's total tea production. The crop declined 11 percent in Assam in June 2022 to 76.87 million kg from 86.37 million kg in the same month of the previous year. In Barak Valley, the crop decreased to 4.26 million kg in June 2022 as against 4.26 million kg in the previous year same month of 2021 at 5.08 million kg, showing a decline of 16.14 percent, the TAI said.

In the Dooars region of West Bengal, the crop decreased to 21.92 million kg in June 2022, as compared to 27.75 million kg in June 2021, reflecting a fall of 21.01 percent. Terai crop also showed a decrease of 19.03 percent in June 2022 at 17.15 million kg as against 21.18 million kg in June 2021, the spokesman said.

The association said concomitant with the crop loss in June, the industry had been affected by the rise in daily wages by Rs 30 per worker in North Bengal. TAI said there had been a drop in CTC tea prices in May in the regions of Brahmaputra and Barak Valley in Assam and Dooars and Terai areas in West Bengal by approximately 15 percent. The association said this situation is affecting the viability of the industry to a large extent.

Presently, the daily minimum wage in West Bengal is at Rs 232 per worker, secretary-general of TAI Prabir Bhattacharya said. He said the minimum wage in Assam is Rs 205, which is to be increased at any moment.

The impact is the rise in the cost of production which is affecting the viability of the industry, he added.