India’s March Tea Output Down 21 pct y/y – Board

Mumbai: The production of tea in India in January fell 21 percent from a year ago to 56.08 million kg, the state-run Tea Board said in a statement, as dry weather hurt production in the biggest producing northeastern state of Assam.

According to the data released by the Tea Board, the production of tea by Assam in March stood at 21 million kg, 37.4 percent less than the output in the same month a year ago.

India comes lauded as the world’s second-biggest tea producer. The country exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Pakistan, Egypt and the UK, and the orthodox variety to Russia, Iraq and Iran.

In Kenya, the world’s biggest tea exporter, drought cut the African country’s first-quarter production by more than a third from a year earlier to 90.09 million kg, the Tea Board said.