India’s new tea strategy..
India’s recession-hit tea industry has launched an aggressive drive to increase production and value of the beverage, despite stiff challenge from countries producing cheap teas.
“The new tea strategy now is to chase both volume and value in exports. We are getting positive results and 2007 is turning out to be a good year for tea,” Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said.
India is currently the world’s largest tea producer after China with a record crop of 955 million kg last year with the northeastern state of Assam accounting for about 55 percent of the total produce.
India’s $1.5 billion tea industry was facing a crisis with prices dropping in the weekly auctions since 1998 and exports plummeting as well.
