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NEW DELHI: Higher tea production in Turkey and China among others helped raise world output to a record level of 3.2 million tonnes in 2004, offsetting declines in India and Bangladesh, a new report says. "Tea production last year reached a record 3.2 million tonnes, which was 50,000 tonnes more than in 2003, with increases in several countries more than offsetting declines in major producers India and Bangladesh," said the report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Released ahead of the inter-governmental meet on tea being held in Bali July 20-22, the report said the rise in world tea output was mainly due to increases recorded in Turkey, China, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. As there were no reported new areas planted in the past five years, it is assumed the expansion was due to higher yields, the report said. In India, tea production declined by 4.3 percent to around 820,216 tonnes due to unfavourable weather conditions, mainly floods in the north and drought in the southern region. The situation was worsened by the closure of around 70 tea gardens in Assam due to widespread recession in the industry. On the export front, however, India registered a growth of three percent with overseas sales of about 183,600 tonnes, partly reversing a major fall of 13 percent in 2003 to the lowest level in a decade, due mainly to weaker demand from the Russian federation, the United Arab Emirates and Britain. World tea exports increased by 4.4 percent in 2004 to reach 1.47 million tonnes as shipments from major exporting countries increased during the year. Kenya retained its position as the largest exporter, again surpassing Sri Lanka. "Tea prices opened at $1.56 per kg in January 2004 and closed at $1.73 in December, reflecting an improvement on the demand side," FAO said. In its outlook for the next decade, FAO expects the world green tea production to grow at a faster rate than black tea at 2.3 percent a year, but volumes are much smaller at a projected total of 975,000 tonnes by 2014. China is expected to maintain its lead, accounting for over 75 percent of world green tea output with a production of 740,100 tonnes, replacing some of its black tea production. However, the annual growth rate is expected to slow from 3.8 percent over the last decade (1993-2003) to 2.2 percent over the next decade till 2014. The growth rate in world black tea consumption is expected to be reduced from 2.2 percent over the last decade (1993-2003) to 1.2 percent over the next decade to reach 2.67 million tonnes by 2014. The main reason is a slow-down in consumption in producing countries, as the production growth rate outpaces the growth in demand for exports. In India, however, while the output is expected to grow by 1.6 percent annually to reach 1.01 million tonnes in 2014, the domestic consumption of black tea is expected to increase by 1.5 percent annually to reach 805,700 tonnes in 2014 or almost 80 percent of the tea produced in the country. Source: www.newindpress.com Saturday July 16 2005 |
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