Nilgiri Planters Association participating World Tea Expo
Udhagamandalam: A fifteen-member delegation comprising exporters, representatives of the Nilgiri Planters Association (NPA) and officials of the Tea Board and Indcoserve (apex body of the Industrial Cooperative Tea Factories) will participate in the World Tea Expo at Atlanta, USA between June 9 and 11. Stating this at Coonoor on Wednesday, the Executive Director, Tea Board, R.D. Nazeem, who would be heading the delegation said that the Expo was the most important business meet on beverages in the U.S.Pointing out that a presentation on the achievements of the tea industry in South India on the quality front would be made by him on the opening day, he said that it would be followed by a session on tea which would focus on various Indian teas particularly those from the Nilgiris, Anamallais and Munnar.15 Indian exporters would display their products including speciality teas, tea bags, ready to drink tea and organic tea.
The Tea Board would also sponsor a `Nilgiri Tea Party' along with the NPA where 8 leading tea estates in the Nilgiris would display their speciality teas including Golden tips, silver tips and organic tea.They would be sold in 250 gram packets for 10 to 15 dollars.A raffle would be conducted among those participating in the Nilgiri Tea Party.The winners would be brought to Nilgiris. Their expenses would be taken care of by the Tea Board.
At the Expo the Golden Leaf Awards competition jointly organized by the Tea Board and the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) would be promoted as the next edition of this award was proposed to be held in Florida next year. Since the Managing Director and officers of the Indcoserve would be attending the fair, it would help the Indcoserve gain a foothold in the United States.
Pointing out that the U.S. was gradually becoming a major tea consuming country, he expressed the confidence that the efforts of Tea Board to replace South American producers like Argentina as the number one supplier to the U.S. market would fructify.He recalled that in last year's Expo, the Tea Board and the NPA had organized the first ever tea auction on US soil.It had been a runaway success.The top teas had been sold for a world record price of 600 dollars per kilogram. The auction was largely instrumental in giving the much-needed exposure to the South Indian teas in the U.S.
