Tea is one of the most refreshing and popular beverages of the world. India is one the the largest Tea producer, exporter and consumer in the world. Indian tea is the finest quality in the world. It is being cultivated in the high ranges of Northern and Southern India and the best quality tea are CTC and Orthodox Assam Tea. The consumption is above 600 Million kgs per year. The market consists of both Leaf and Dust Teas both in the CTC and Orthodox Grades. There have been considerable rise in the domestic production as well as export figures since the past few years.

Heres a look at the export market for the last 3 semesters

Tea production and exports (mn kg) Jan-Apr 2005 Jan-Apr 2004 yoy % Production Exports Production Exports Production Exports North India 94.1 20.2 76.1 23.1 23.7 (12.6) South India 55.7 32.6 51.2 26.0 8.8 25.4 All India 149.8 52.8 127.3 49.1 17.7 7.5 Source: Indian Tea Association

Exports
India is the largest producer of tea and ranks fourth in terms of total tea exporters in the world.

Tea Exports from India (Rs mn) Jan-Apr 05 Jan-Apr 04 yoy (%) North India 2,448 2,568 (4.7) South India 2,136 1,684 26.9 All India 4,585 4,252 7.8

Imports
During Jan-Mar 2005, tea imports into India increased to 4.56mn kg from 2.91mn kg in Jan-Mar 2004. Vietnam was the major exporter at 1.78mn kg.

Tea Imports to India Countries Jan-Mar 05 Jan-Mar 04 Inc/Dec (mn kg) (Rs/kg) (mn kg) (Rs/kg) (mn kg) Indonesia 0.47 58.42 0.59 62.88 (0.12) Nepal 0.22 55.55 0.73 50.47 (0.51) Sri Lanka 0.05 92.74 0.40 97.72 (0.35) Vietnam 1.78 36.44 0.60 26.88 1.18 Kenya 0.45 68.95 0.57 80.98 (0.12) Others 1.59 50.08 0.02 N/A N/A Total 4.56 45.53 2.91 59.39 1.65 Source: Indian Tea Association

The special incentives to boost the tea exports of Rs 930 mn will bring in the much needed support for the tea industry, which was currently facing oversupply. The fund would be released from the corpus of Rs 1.4bn created from collection of additional excise duty (AED) over two and a half years.