GUWAHATI India, the world’s largest tea producer after China, has become the largest importer of the beverage from Kenya.
According to the Tea Board of Kenya, exports to India shot up from 3.53 million kg from January to October 2023 to 13.71 million kg during the same period in 2024. The 288% jump makes India the country’s largest importer of its teas, it said.
India’s tea exports also increased from 184.46 million kg from January to October in 2023 to 209.14 million kg during the same phase in 2024, the Tea Board of India’s report on tea exports during 2024 said. The increase was by a tad more than 13%.
Assam and West Bengal accounted for the bulk of the teas exported.
The leap in tea imports from Kenya has been a cause of concern for tea producers and traders in India, which has been grappling with oversupply for some time although production in the country drooped by more than 50 million kg in 2024 with Assam recording a crop loss of about 20 million kg.
“The imports from Kenya in recent months have been alarming as the oversupply in India has kept the prices of local teas in check. Some Indian brands use the cheap and lower-quality African teas as well as substandard teas from Iran and Vietnam for blending and re-exporting as Indian teas,” a tea producer said.
“Uncontrolled imports of tea and their re-export as Indian tea affects the image, demand, and price of Indian tea. Exporters of genuine, qualitative Indian tea have been hit by those exporting lower-grade imported tea as Indian tea. This needs to be addressed,” Indian Tea Exporters’ Association chairman Anshuman Kanoria said.
The average price of the imported teas from Kenya is ₹156.73 per kg compared to ₹252.83 per kg fetched by Assam tea in auctions up to October 2024.
Tea industry captains attributed the entry of cheaper teas to the abolishment of the North Indian Tea Council which monitored the quality and minimum residue limit (of pesticides) compliance of teas.
The Indian tea players are also worried by the possibility of teas old-stock teas in Kenyan storehouses being pushed into India. They have also not ruled out the possibility of low-quality teas from other African countries such as Burundi, Malawi, Tanzania, and Ugandan Tanzania reaching India through the Mombasa tea auction centre in Kenya.
“About 119 million kg tea of Kenyan tea has been unsold for a year due to government regulation in that country on the minimum price fixed at auctions. Moreover, we have reasons to believe Kenya exports teas from neighbouring African countries lesser known for producing the beverage,” Dinesh Bihani, the secretary of the Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers’ Association said.
Published – January 23, 2025 09:11 pm IST
