India’s tea exports to Pakistan hit by strained ties

Friday, 4 October 2013 03:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA: The Tea Board of India said on Sunday (29 September) that the unrest along the border with Pakistan

and the strained ties between the two nuclear armed south Asian nations has hit the exports. Executive Director of Tea Board of India, R. Ambalavanan said they hoped that their business would receive a boost after the recent peace talks between the Prime Ministers of both India and Pakistan. The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had a dialogue at New York in the USA, and discussed several relevant issues, amid heightened tension between the neighbours over Kashmir. Speaking on the sidelines of the 31st Annual General Meeting of Tea Traders Association of Coimbatore, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Ambalavanan said that Pakistan is a huge market for tea but due payments from the buyers were an issue of concern. “There is lot of political instability over a period of time in the last one and a half years, so, it seriously affects our payments to the exporters. That is why, exporters are very conscious in engaging with Pakistan. But I am sure that if the peace talks go on very well and again if confidence level improves, definitely our teas will have better marketing,” he said. The Tea Traders Association urged the board to take significant steps to capture the lost market share, as reportedly export from India has dropped to 201 million kilograms in 2012 as against 215 million kilogram in 2011. In the backdrop of the visit of a tea trade delegation from Pakistan last year which provided a boost to Indian exports, Ambalavanan said that there were no immediate plans to invite tea delegations from different countries.