CISTA urges Piyush Goyal to curb imports of substandard tea to protect Indian tea industry

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Rajibur Rahaman
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Rajibur Rahaman is an experienced journalist with a focus on hospitality news, executive appointments, biographies, and industry updates. Having worked with prestigious hotel brands such as Marriott, Taj, and others, Rajibur brings a deep understanding of the hospitality industry to his writing. His expertise and dedication to delivering insightful and accurate stories make him a valued contributor to the Hospitality Career Profile.
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The Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA) has written to the Union Commerce Minister 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.

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 percent 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. Nepal already exports 80 percent of tea production to India which remains unchecked by the FSSAI where whereas pure Indian teas are strictly and closely monitored by regulatory authorities.

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CISTA expresses apprehension that uncontrolled import of cheap and inferior quality tea from different countries will flood the Indian market very soon. Though some merchant exporters will benefit from this process but our 150-year-old Indian tea industry will be facing the worst challenges in near future in terms of demand, price and quality in the domestic market which is the main asset of the Indian tea industry, alleged Chakraborty.

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