Guwahati: After two months of shortage in tea production, the Assam tea market has now registered a better demand. The prices of good liquoring teas have also increased by Rs. 15-20 per kilogram. Additionally, there has been strong demand for orthodox grade teas, whereby auction prices have soared by more than Rs. 50 as compared to last year.

In the last four weeks, the Guwahati Tea Auction Center has registered a deficit of approximately 8 million kgs of tea. The deficit has been due to a shortage in crops in the months of June and July. Assam produced 90.85 million kgs of tea in June 2021 and 103.24 million kgs in July last year.

Industry sources stated that the industry will register at least 20 percent shortage in production due to deficit cropping in these two months, amounting to an approximate 39 million kgs shortage.

Contrary to the shortage in the months of June and July, Assam till May 2022 had around 38.90 million kgs of tea in excess production.

However, there is a strong demand for orthodox tea from exporters, stated Dinesh Bihani, Secretary of the Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers Association (GTABA).

"As the Sri Lanka economy has collapsed the foreign buyers have diverted their purchases to the Indian market. In recent times we have seen a lot of tea manufacturers divert their production from CTC to orthodox and they are getting good prices due to this change," he said.

Srilanka produces 300 million kgs of tea, of which 286 million kgs are exported, which constitutes 95 percent orthodox tea. On the other hand, India produces only 92.6 million kgs out of which 33 million kgs are produced in Assam.

"Given the crash of the Sri Lankan economy, it seems orthodox grade may see a better demand and fetch good prices in the coming season, " he added.