Association appeals to Govt to revive tea industry

The Indian Tea Association (ITA) has appealed to the government seeking its intervention for the revival of the tea industry.

Among the interventions sought from the government, the ITA on Thursday urged it to take over PF contributions for workers for three years. The association also sought a ban on expansion of tea areas, to contain oversupply for five years. The ITA made the appeal through an advertisement published in newspapers on Thursday.

The ITA also asked the government to consider substantial fund for generic promotion of tea the country and fix a Minimum Reserve Price for tea in the auction, based on the cost of production".

In the appeal, the ITA said that the viability of the tea sector was necessary for the security of employment of the million-plus workforce.

"The tea sector is incurring losses due to rising costs of production and stagnant selling prices," the ITA said. The advertisement presented a graph of average selling price versus the average cost of production of tea in registered tea gardens between 2013-14 and 2018-19.

In 2013-14, the average selling price of tea was above Rs 150 per kg, against the production cost being a little less than Rs 150 per kg. In 2018-19, the production cost shot up to Rs 200 while the selling price remained the same, causing the tea industry to incur losses, it said.