By IANS,
Kolkata : Andrew Yule will re-launch its packet tea during the festive season this year and pump in Rs.600 million over the next 12 years into its tea business for modernization of its gardens, a top company official said here Tuesday.
“The gardens of our company are amongst the top 50 gardens in the country. But we are facing some problems with productivity at present. We need to do some re-plantation and modernisation to increase the production,” Kallol Datta, Andrew Yule chairman and managing director said on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting.
The company is re-launching two packet tea brands during this festive season – Yule Tea-Gold for the premium segment, and the Yule Tea-Red for the popular segment. Both categories will be blended curl, tear, crush (CTC) variety of tea.
“I hope the tea division will turn around this year,” Datta said, adding: “We are targeting selling around 500,000 kilograms a year.
The company is targeting smaller towns and semi-urban areas to promote its tea brands.
Yule Tea has altogether 15 gardens in Darjeeling and the Doors region in West Bengal and Assam. Its teas are essentially of the CTC variety though orthodox teas are produced at Darjeeling and at some of its Assam estates.
Meanwhile, the company posted a profit after a gap of seven years – netting Rs.86 million for the fiscal 2007-08 on gross sales of Rs.1.84 billion, as compared to a loss of Rs.900 million on gross sales of Rs.1.47 billion in 2006-07.