India’s May tea output drops 4.8%

Wednesday, 18 July 2012 01:12 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: India’s tea production in May dropped to 72.5 million kg, down 4.8% from a year earlier, the State-run Tea Board said, as unfavourable weather in the top-producing north eastern state of Assam state hampered plucking.

The country’s tea production in the first five months of 2012 fell 11.4% to 215.8 million kg from a year earlier, the board said in a statement.An employee works inside a tea producing factory at the Amchong tea estate in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. Tea output in India’s top-producing Assam state is likely to fall by 5% in 2012 due to a dry spell in the first five months followed by heavy rains from June, which could harden prices further, industry officials said. The northeastern state produced some 508.7 million kilograms of tea in 2011, accounting for over half of the country’s total production – Reuters

Tea output from Assam is likely to fall 5% in 2012 due to a dry spell in the first five months and heavy rains from June, factors that could harden prices further, industry officials said.

The world’s second biggest tea producer exports the CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea variety mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, and the premium orthodox variety to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

India’s tea production in 2011 rose to a record high of 988.3 million kg.

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