Tea Wars

Choking supply of Darjeeling tea can only hurt the growers. 

- Joe C. Mathew

Officials of Kolkata-based Indian Tea Association (ITA), the oldest lobby group of tea producers in the country, are in a quandary these days. The supply of the exotic, valuable variety of India tea – Darjeeling tea – has been choked because of political turmoil that has gripped the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

The indefinite strike called by the protestors demanding a separate state, has disrupted the harvesting of tea leaves during the second flush, the dust of which is mostly exported and fetches maximum price. ITA’S Darjeeling office remains shut, and the impact of the supply disruption is beginning to be felt.

In volume terms, the quantity of tea that comes from Darjeeling is not huge. In 2016/17, production of Darjeeling tea was 7.96 million kilogram, a small fraction of India’s total tea production of 1250.49 million kilogram during that period.