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Indian tea industry welcomes Iran lifting ban
Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 19:30 IST
KOLKATA: The Indian industry has welcomed Iran's decision to lift a four-year ban on tea imports.
"We expect this to boost exports of Indian tea that once commanded a good market in that country," Indian Tea Association (ITA) chairman C.K. Dhanuka told IANS.
Iran began accepting tea imports from April 15 following persistent lobbying by the tea industry in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.
Iran stopped importing tea about four years ago in an effort to protect the country's tea industry.
"It was probably a protectionist measure but they have done away with it," Dhanuka said.
Tehran's decision follows the visit by a delegation of Indian tea growers and commerce ministry officials.
"ITA will soon be sending a delegation to Iran to negotiate with importers there," Dhanuka said.
ITA wants to swing into action fast to wrest the initiative from competitors like Sri Lanka and Kenya.
But Indian exporters would have to pay a duty of 80 cents per kg of tea.
"The import duty is not much but we would like to see it waived too," the ITA chief said.
Iran's tea market, which prefers the orthodox variety, is worth 120 million kg a year and 50 percent of that was met by imports from India and Sri Lanka.
Curiously, despite the ban Iranian traders imported nearly a million kg of tea every year from India.
Industry sources said while some of it was smuggled in, the rest was brought in to "blend with local Iranian tea".
India's tea exports stood at 173 million kg in 2003. Dhanuka said the immediate aim would be to sell 10 million kg of tea to Iran.
India is the single largest producer of tea in the world with production pegged at 850 million kg last year. Domestic consumption hovers around 620 million kg.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS