Darjeeling: Darjeeling tea, which is regarded as the champagne of teas, is facing an existential crisis with production dropping to 6.3 million kg in 2023, the lowest in 50 years. Half of the 87 tea estates in the Darjeeling district are up for sale and Japan, once a biggest buyer of Darjeeling tea, has reduced its import.
Exporters and Darjeeling tea planters said that the Darjeeling tea industry is in ICU and needs immediate attention from the Central government to revive it.
The Darjeeling tea industry not been able to come out of the blow that it had faced during the agitation in the hills by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2017. The gardens remained closed for almost four months and the foreign buyers went away. The Covid pandemic further dampened the fortune of the Darjeeling tea estates.
The planters faced financial crisis and they could not pump in the required money to boost the tea estates. Till date, Darjeeling tea industry has not received any revival package from the Centre, even though they had submitted one to the government.
Import of cheap Nepal teas has further deepened the crisis of the Darjeeling tea industry which is already reeling under financial crisis due to low production, lesser demand in export markets and low price realisation. Trade sources said that Nepal has also been able to penetrate the export markets for Darjeeling tea and are now directly exporting to countries like Germany and Japan.
Darjeeling planters are worried that the domestic consumers are drinking Nepal teas as Darjeeling teas, which is destroying their market in the homeland too.
Madhav Sarda, managing director of Golden Tips Company said “The Ilam district in Nepal and Darjeeling in West Bengal have the same climate. It is just an imaginary line that divides the two. The tea produced in Ilam is almost similar to that of Darjeeling. So a lot of teas are entering from Ilam to India and are being sold in the domestic market as Darjeeling tea. And the volume is gradually increasing every year.”
Sarda said that Nepalese teas are cheaper than Darjeeling teas by almost 35% -50%. “They are blended with Darjeeling teas and are sold as Darjeeling teas. The consumers can't differentiate between Darjeeling teas and Nepalese teas. Even the tea experts sometimes fail to differentiate between the two,” he said.
Sandeep Mukherjee, principal adviser of Darjeeling Tea Association said “Of the 87 tea estates in Darjeeling, 7 are permanently closed. Many of them are somehow surviving and are not able to clear the statutory dues of the workers. The fate of the Darjeeling industry is uncertain and we do not know how long the gardens will continue their operations.”
“Darjeeling tea industry is in ICU and this year the exports will be less. Both the central government and state government should take immediate steps to revive Darjeeling tea,” said Anshuman Kanoria, chairman of the Indian Tea Exporters Association (ITEA).
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