Soured relations with Nepal, China turn Indian tea caustic

The souring relation between India and Nepal and India and China may affect the tea exports from North Bengal. Several tea exporters are worried that if transportation and the movement of tea consignments do not put on ease then the sector would take a big hit.

Siliguri: The Covid-19 lockdown and subsequent disruption of transportation services, as well as the recently grown cold feet in Indo-Nepal and Indo-China relations, could cast a shadow on the tea exports from North Bengal.

Tea exporters have said, if immediate steps are not taken to ease transportation as well as the movement of tea consignments, then the sector would take a big hit.

Assam and North Bengal export CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea to China. Around 10.58 million kgs of CTC tea was exported to China in 2018-19, which was worth around Rs 180 crore. The figure stood at 12.71 million kgs in 2019-20, pushing the worth to around Rs 200.15 crore. Other than China, tea exports to Russia from the region was 45.37 million kgs in 2018-19, which converted in monetary terms, stood at Rs 716.84 crore. The figure slid a bit in 2019-20 to 44.76 million kgs with a worth of Rs 711.72 crore. Overall tea exports from India during 2018-19 was 254.50 million kgs (Rs 5,506.84 crore), which in 2019-20 stood at 240.02 million kgs (Rs 5,427.78 crore).

Tea exporters are blaming the slow pace of work in banks as well as customs offices behind the delay in shipment and movement of consignments.

“Post lockdown, everything has gradually opened, but the pace of work is extremely slow. Bank clearances and movement of shipment, which also includes paperwork, are taking so long that shipments are getting stalled. If the government does not immediately intervene and hasten the process, then tea from Nepal and Sri Lanka will grab the vacuum. Eventually, we will also lose Forex,” said Rajiv Lochan, one of the tea exporters of Siliguri, North Bengal's nerve centre.

Several tea exporters are wary about the Indo-China trade relations and the impact of bilateral relations after the Galwan skirmish.

“There are internal tensions in countries like the USA, Germany and Japan, but that does not have any effect on trade and exports. After what happened in Galwan has made us wary about shipping our tea to China. Our counterparts in that country who import our tea are also in a fix. We have been receiving continuous calls from China about the timing of our shipments and at all, we will be sending them to that country or not. The Centre should issue some guidelines to us,” said another tea exporter, citing the case of tea being earlier exported to Bangladesh and Pakistan. Exports to both countries had taken a hit earlier due to strained international relations and the gap was gradually filled by Sri Lankan tea. Though the relations eased out at a later stage, yet the business which was lost was never regained.

“International flights remain suspended, leading to big problems for our clients in Europe and the USA regarding sending samples for approval. As most of our overseas consignments move out of Kolkata and the auction houses are also located there, lack of transportation for moving tea to Kolkata from North Bengal is a nightmare for us. We are staring at huge losses this year and it will surely cripple the tea industry of North Bengal as well as Assam,” said Rishi Sariyar, another exporter.

Sariyar said it took around 45 days to send samples to Canada from North Bengal.

The matters have eased out a bit after shipping lines started operating and consignment started moving out. But, the pace, according to exporters, is extremely slow. Tea exporters of North Bengal accept the fact that bilateral relations do play an important role in international business. They are only hoping that the sector, which brings in steady Forex, will not take a nose dive due to the prevalent situation.