Friday, March 21, 2008

Govt Provides Financial Relief To Tea Growers

New Delhi: The Commerce Ministry on Thursday announced the price spectrum band for 2007 for rubber, coffee and tea to give financial relief to the growers when the prices of these commodities fall below a specified level under the Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme (PSFS).

The tea growers would be the main beneficiary as both coffee and rubber growers had a boom year in 2007.

For tea, the Price Spectrum Band, calculated on the basis of seen years’ moving average of international price for the commodity, shows that the annual average domestic price for tea was Rs 64.66 per kg during 2007 and it has been categorised as ‘normal year’.

The annual average domestic price for coffee Arabica during 2007was Rs 112.70 per kg and it has been categorised as ‘boom year’ for Arabica. The annual average domestic price for Robusta was Rs 75.76 per kg during 2007, and it has been categorised as ‘boom year’ for it.

The annual average domestic price for rubber was Rs 90.06 a kg during 2007, and it has been categorised as ‘boom year’. As no tobacco grower is enrolled under the scheme, price spectrum band for tobacco has not been fixed.

On the basis of price spectrum band in 2007, 15,289 tea growers would receive financial assistance of Rs 0.76 crore from the PSF Trust Fund during 2008-09, while the other two commercial crops viz., coffee and rubber growers would not get any relief as they come under ‘boom year’ categorisation.

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