CISTA urges Piyush Goyal to curb imports of substandard tea to protect Indian tea industry
Piyush Goyal to ensure that substandard teas are not imported and distributed in India to protect the country's own tea crop. In its representation to the ministry, CISTA has alleged that cheap quality teas from Kenya and Nepal are entering India and are being re-exported to the world markets as Indian tea.
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Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, president, CISTA said «We came to know from the Kenya Tea Board data that between January to October 2024, Kenya exported 13.71 million kg of tea to India which was only 3.53 million kg in 2023. Data shows the import of tea from Kenya jumped by more than 288% in 2024 compared to 2023. These cheap and lower-quality African tea is used for blending, selling in the domestic markets and even re-exporting under the brand of Indian tea.»
Another 13.66 million kg of tea was imported from Nepal to India. «As per the view of the Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Tea Board, our tea industry is already grappling with an oversupply situation. Tea Board issued an order of early closure for the last eight years to improve quality, and market price and manage the oversupply situation. It is ridiculous that while on one side the regulatory authority is trying to control the oversupply situation by taking short-term measures, on the other hand, the uncontrolled and free flow of imported tea from many countries is disrupting the managing process of an oversupply situation, said the CISTA president.
