By IANS,
Kolkata : Indian tea exporters are trying to increase exports to Russia as a balancing act following the country’s declining export trend mainly due to the Iran payment crisis, a top executive of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association said Wednesday.
“We are trying to push north Indian tea in the Russian markets. Increased tea exports to Russia can serve as a balancing act in India’s total export after it declined mainly due to Iran payment crisis,” association chairperson Sangeeta Kichlu told reporters here.
Kichlu, who is also a vice president of Jay Shree Tea and Industries Ltd, a B.K. Birla Group company, said: “We can increase exports to Russia by 10 million kg to 15 million kg… and moreover Iran will continue to buy.”
She said the country exported about 60 million kg to 80 million kg of tea to Russia in 2011.
Kichlu said promotional works were going on in the Russian markets.
Experts said the trigger for the decline in total tea export is the Iran payment crisis and political turmoil in Middle East and North African countries like Libya, Syria and Egypt.
Iran is a major consumer of the high quality orthodox tea from India and imports nearly 15 million kg every year.
The problem over Iran payment arose after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) December 2010 scrapped the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) currency swap system for payments to Iran following pressure from the US, which is using sanctions to force Tehran to halt its nuclear programme.
Kichlu said total tea production in India was expected to touch one billion kg in 2012.
“About seven to nine percent of this will be orthodox tea,” she said.
“Country’s total production was about 995 million kg to 996 million kg in 2011,” she added.