Tea export droppes by rupee’s rise
Export of tea from South India has dropped sharply compared to last year. Among the factors stated to be the cause for this is rupee appreciation.Tea export dropped to 32.2 million kg during January-May this year from 39.7 million kg during the same period last year. The price in the domestic market too has come down to Rs 45.96 a kg by June end from Rs 56.79 during January- May last year, said an official of the United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI).Coffee export too has been hit with the tentatively calculated loss running to around Rs 200- 220 crore.This comes at a time when the plantation industry is trying out various strategies to bail itself out of the crisis it was in since 2000.Though the Centre has come out with the Special Purpose Tea Fund to help tea companies avail of loans from the corpus of Rs 300- 400 crore for the purpose of replantation and rejuvenation of tea bushes, industry insiders say the unit cost fixed around Rs 2,73,000, is very low considering the difficult South Indian terrains and want it to be around Rs 3.5 to 5 lakh.Since there is also a mismatch between the cost of production and selling price, many managements are reducing the expenditure.
