Weather plays truant: Darjeeling first flush tea prices fall 34%

Kolkata: Wet and foggy weather over the past three weeks has impacted the quality of first flush Darjeeling teas and driven down their prices by about 34 per cent from a year ago.

Darjeeling has 87 tea gardens which collectively produce 8-8.5 million kg of teas every year. At the last auctions, Darjeeling teas fetched a price of Rs 319.28 per kg compared with Rs 487.30 per kg a year ago, traders said.

The weather condition is likely to hit the June crop too. SS Bagaria, a Darjeeling tea planter, said, “June crop may be lower by 10-15 per cent because of weather conditions.” Adding to the woes of Darjeeling tea planters is the entry of a variety of teas from Nepal which are not just substantially cheaper but also difficult for consumers to differentiate from Darjeeling teas.

“The quality of first flush tea has suffered because of weather conditions. We are hoping for the weather to improve so that second flush teas fetch a little better price,” said Binod Mohan, chairman of Darjeeling Tea Association. He, however, said that the price rise that they are expecting from second flush teas will not be able to meet the spiralling cost of production.

The DTA chairman is worried about the entry of Nepal teas in the domestic market. Nepalese teas have found shelf space in most retail outlets across the country and are being sold as Darjeeling teas.

According to trade sources, Nepalese tea sellers appoint a dealer or agent with a local GST number. These agents sell the teas and are paid 5 per cent GST. The sources said Nepalese tea sellers are ready to shell out the extra cash as they get better prices for their teas in India.

Nepalese teas started entering India in good volumes after the strike call by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in June 2017, which halted plantation operations in the hills for about four months. That political unrest opened doors for Nepalese teas in the Indian market and now the industry alleges that Nepalese teas are finding their way into global markets which used to buy only Darjeeling teas. As per industry estimates, 2-2.5 million kg of Nepalese teas have entered India till now.