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India's tea exports fall 43% in August on lower Iraq sales
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 16 October 2003, 19:30 IST
KOLKATA: Indian tea exports plunged more than 43 per cent to 14.70 million kg in August year-on-year mainly because of a drop in sales to Iraq, a state-run Tea Board official said on Wednesday.
Exports by India, the world's largest tea producer, in January-August also fell 30 per cent to 87.86 million kg from 125.66 million kg in the same period last year.
The value of exports in January-August fell to Rs 8.205 billion ($180 million) from Rs 11.03 billion in the same period last year, the official said.
Last year, Iraq was India's fastest growing tea market and the country exported 40.25 million kg, a three-fold jump over 2001, to the Gulf nation. But the US-led war and continued post-war instability have shattered Indian tea exports.
Tea exports to Iraq in January-July this year were 0.70 million kg versus 20.89 million kg in the same period in 2002.
Industry experts say the Iraq problem has been aggravated by a continued fall in exports to Russia and CIS countries, which together constitute India's largest market.
"We cannot totally depend on the Russian or Iraq markets. We need to find new markets in North Africa and West Asia like Tunisia or Syria where Sri Lanka is strong," said chairman of Limtex India Gopal Poddar, a big exporter.
Tea exports to Russia in January-July 2003 fell 21 per cent to 21.89 million kg over the first seven months of last year.
Indian exporters are also eyeing neighbouring Pakistan, the world's third largest importer, taking advantage of a fragile thaw between the two South Asian rivals. India plans to triple exports to Pakistan to 10 million kg this year.