This story is from August 5, 2020

30% hike in green leaf tea price bring cheers to farmers

30% hike in green leaf tea price bring cheers to farmers
UDHAGAMANDALAM: Nearly a 30% hike in the price of green leaf tea has brought cheer to small tea farmers in the Nilgiris.
The Tamil Nadu Small Tea Growers Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories Federation Ltd (Indcoserve) has raised the price of green leaf tea to Rs 22 per kg for August. Earlier, this rate was fixed between Rs 14 and Rs 17 per kg.
The Tea Board of India (south) has fixed Rs 20.99 for each kg of green leaf tea.
The surge in price is attributed to floods in Assam, among other factors.
Supriya Sahu, chief executive officer, Indcoserve, said, “An upswing in the market has helped to achieve a record high for tea auctions last month.” Teaserve, an exclusive tea auction platform, saw INDCO tea fetching a high of Rs 158 per kg. The average sale price for leaf-grade tea stood between Rs 122 and Rs 132. “It is a record in the history of Teaserve,” said Sahu. The high price is due to the appointment of four quality officers, apart from training and orientation programmes for officials and tea makers of cooperative tea factories. “We also explored new markets and exported 1,250 metric tonnes of tea to Kerala as part of special Covid supply,” said Sahu.
Around 26,000 small tea farmers are attached to 16 Indco tea factories located in various places across the hill district.
M.Balaji, executive director, Tea Board (south) said, “Supply of tea has dipped in the market. There are several factors for the short supply. One among them is floods in northeast states. Due to Covid, demand for tea has gone up. Also, the quality of made-tea has fetched high price in auction centres that has been distributed to small tea growers.”
There are about 46,653 small tea growers in the Nilgiris cultivating tea in about 34, 282 acres, as per record available with Tea Board. B J Balasubramaniam, a small tea grower said, “It is a welcome sign for small tea growers.”
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