Major Global Tea Producers To Tie Up

Kochi: The major tea producers in the world, in a bid to control production, supply and expand the market, have decided to constitute an International Tea Producers Forum (ITPF) during the International Tea Convention (ITC) that ended at Colombo on August 30. The ITPF is hoped to be formally unveiled at the India International Tea Festival scheduled for November in Guwahati. The tea producing countries felt that ITPF should be developed as a strong body on similar lines of other organisations such as the International Coffee Organization (ICO). The ITC was attended by 14 major producers, comprising India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Malawi and Tanzania. The ITPF would accumulate information on area, age profile of plants, yield etc apart from taking up generic promotion of tea in largely populated countries where its consumption is less.

Apart from creating a common platform it would also take initiatives to fix a permissible limit for maximum residue levels (MRL) in tea. Another important issue is the high cost of production in several producing countries mainly because of higher wages that makes the produce of such countries uncompetitive in terms of price in the world market. If positive measures are taken, the tea estates could become profitable ventures and a good model for others to emulate. Such a step would help regulate tea production bringing in equilibrium between demand and supply.