BS Reporter / Kolkata July 8, 2011, 0:49 IST

The domestic tea industry is likely to end the year with a production deficit of 100 million kg, despite good weather conditions and a higher crop.

Last year, during January-December, production was 966 million kg and the industry expects it to be 990 million kg this year. The increase in production will just about take care of the yearly consumption increase. On an average, the domestic consumption increases by about 30 million kg every year.

“The year started with a shortfall of 100 million kg. I dont think the production increase will mitigate the deficit. It will be enough to absorb the consumption increase. But this year looks much stronger than the previous year when we lost crop during the quality period,” Aditya Khaitan, managing director of the world’s largest bulk tea producer, McLeod Russel (India), said.

Tea prices have risen Rs 15-20 a kg. Tea stocks reflected the sentiments voiced by the industry. The McLeod Russel stock touched a high of Rs 287.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a 52-week high. Jayshree Tea and Industries also scaled a high of Rs 181.90, close to its 52-week high of Rs 210 a share.

“What has led to the firming of prices is a global shortfall,” industry representatives pointed out. Week-to-week prices at Mombasa auctions showed that prices were up by 60 to 70 cents. Africa has registered a shortfall of 45 million kg till now. The industry expects that the annual global shortfall to be around 55 million kg.

“Last year, our exports were at 22 million kg. This year, we have a target of 25-26 million kg,” Khaitan said.

Both crop and production were up in May, officials of the Indian Tea Association said.

According to figures on the Tea Board website, up to May, the crop was higher by eight million kg at 243 million kg. May alone saw an increase of 3.5 million kg in production. The increase was primarily in Assam and North Bengal, while south India actually saw a marginal dip in production.

Up to April, production was down by 5 million kg.

Exports for May were up but by less than a million kg. The unit price of exports saw a huge jump from Rs 141.28 a kg from Rs 115.84 a kg last year.

Exports at the beginning of the season, however, were down. During April to May, exports stood at 22 million tonnes while in the previous year they were close to 24 million tonnes.

The Indian Tea Association is yet to release the latest figures, but both crop and production were up for the month of May, officials of the association said. Exports for May were up by one million kg. Till March, world production was down by 31 million kg.

Industry representative indicated that if the weather conditions maintained the current pattern then the year would close with a deficit of about 155 million kg.

RDG Systems and Software Pvt Ltd has signed an agreement with Badulipar Limited, owners of Koomtai Tea Estate for installation and implementation of Teapac, an ERP software for the tea industry. Koomtai is the biggest tea estate in the Jorhat  district with an area under tea of 1200 hectares with the processing factory producing about 22 lacs kg tea annually.This estate has six independent divisions with 8 Asst. Managers , 2 welfare officers 2 medical officers, 118 sub staff,, 88 staff members and 2500 permanent workers and about 3000 casual workers . This is presently the single largest estate in the RDG stable  which will run Teapac. We look forward to a speedy and efficient implementation and thank Mr Mayank Saraf and his team for placing  his  faith in RDG.

An interesting article on mechanical harvesting of tea by Harki Sidhu

http://teachai.blogspot.com/2011/06/mechenical-harvesting-of-tea.html

STUART GRAHAM | LUSIKISIKI, EASTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA – May 30 2011 12:20

Tea plantation faces collapse after worker rampage

The largest tea estate in the southern hemisphere, Magwa Tea outside Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, faces ruin after being looted and abandoned by its workers earlier this year.

The 1 803 hectare farm had a turnover of R65-million a season and provided jobs and career training for 1 200 permanent and 2 300 seasonal workers.

In February, the farm was shut down when workers, the highest paid in the tea industry, went on the rampage after management refused their demand for a 104% increase. 

There has been a revision in the price of Teapac – an ERP software for tea plantations from 1st April 2011. The present pricing is given below:

• Base Software cost per garden  - Rs 3 lacs plus taxes
• Implementation  - Rs 1500/-  per day plus taxes for  implementation team on site at garden.
• Software maintenance charges after one year – Rs 50,000 per garden plus taxes
• Customisation  -   be assessed per garden and quoted separately depending on need of the customer

These prices will remain valid from 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2012.

The Telegraph

Rs 23 hike in tea wage VIVEK CHHETRI Better deal at hand: Workers pluck tealeaves in a hill garden Darjeeling, March 31: The Darjeeling Tea Association today inked a deal with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and other parties to increase the daily wage of hill garden workers by Rs 23, a day before the new agreement on the payment comes into force. The Morcha had been demanding that the wage be increased from Rs 67 to Rs 120-150 a day, but the DTA and hill unions agreed to settle for Rs 90 at a meeting last night. The new pact will be in force for three years from tomorrow.

The Hindu: Kolkata Feb 24th 2011

Having withdrawn its call for a bandh in the Darjeeling hills, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) is set for a fresh spell of agitation that includes a “fast-unto-death” by batches of volunteers across the region from Thursday and a relay hunger-strike by its supporters in New Delhi from February 27 in support of its various demands.  

The Telegraph: Feb 23rd 2o11

Ban cloud on wage deal

- Morcha embargo on Darjeeling tea to hit exports hard // VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Feb. 23: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s decision to impose an embargo on the despatch of the first flush of Darjeeling tea could seriously affect the talks for the revision of wages, the three-year-old agreement on which expires on March 31.

The new wages are expected to come into effect from April 1 but if the gardens are unable to sell the first flush tea which commands the highest price in the global market, the wage negotiation for the 55,000 workers in the tea industry could take a beating. The daily wage of tea workers is now Rs 67.

In 2010, the first flush fetched at least Rs 5,000 a kg, according to figures from one garden that did not want to be named because of commercial reasons. A second-flush variety called Muscatel, the quantity of which is low, sold for as high as Rs 10,000 per kg. The autumnal flush drew prices in the range of Rs 700 a kg. The figures are indicative and can vary from garden to garden. 

Everyone’s cup  of tea

Nepal tea company empowers women to get ahead in the tea business 

JANA ASENBRENNEROVA in DHANKUTA

FROM ISSUE #538 (28 JAN 2011 – 03 FEB 2011)

Kalpana Rai prepares tea cups for tasting at the Jun Chiyabari Tea Estate in Hile. Outside, the mist rolls up hillsides draped with lush tea gardens. The steam rises as Rai pours hot water into a cup, takes a sip, and smiles. “I like this one,” Rai tells her boss. Supervisor Morris Orchard nods in agreement as he rolls the brew around in his mouth. 

The Telegraph CM support for small tea growers - Gogoi to ask tea board to help segment; corpus fund to be formed

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Pradyut Bordoloi and Tarun Gogoi release the directory on small tea growers. Picture by Eastern Projections Guwahati, Jan 13: Acknowledging the importance of small tea growers in Assam, chief minister Tarun Gogoi today said the government would put pressure on the Tea Board of India to look after their interests. He said the board was mainly concerned about the interests of the “organised tea industry” at present. “We have been talking of the organised tea sector only and it is time that interests of small tea growers are also looked after. The government is talking of inclusive growth and in the same vein, the interests of small tea growers should be looked,” Gogoi said, while releasing a three-volume directory on small tea growers at a function here. This is the first database on small tea growers in Assam. It will help in planning policy intervention.

Crunchy numbers

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,800 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 45 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 33 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was June 1st with 103 views. The most popular post that day was Teapac Clients.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were healthfitnesstherapy.com, mail.live.com, mail.yahoo.com, koi-hai.com, and rdgsystems.co.in.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for rdgteapac, tea estate software, color darjeeling tea, azizbagh tea, and tea garden management software.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Teapac Clients May 2010

2

Teapac Presentations May 2010

3

About Teapac May 2010

4

Teapac Reports May 2010
1 comment

5

Teapac Jobs May 2010

Tea industry facing a record supply shortage: MD, McLeod Russel

The Economic Times

29 DEC, 2010, 12.51PM IST,ET NOW

In the backdrop of tea prices falling steadily over sluggish demand, ET Now talks to Aditya Khaitan, MD, McLeod Russel to get an idea of which way the sector may be heading in 2011.

Give us a sense of the outlook on tea prices for 2011. How do you see the picture panning out particularly in terms of maintaining demand versus supply?

Aditya Khaitan : Basically we have seen a huge deficit in terms of the inventory pipeline from the beginning of this year into the starting of next year. We started with a deficit of around 50 to 55 million and this year, we ended up with a physical shortage. We assume to be in tune of around 20 million and if you add tea consumption growth that is taking place in India of around 3.5%, if you add the 2 figures, you have another shortage of around 50 million. 

The Hindu Business Line

Santanu Sanyal

Kolkata, Dec 26 2010

The world’s first public tea auction started in Kolkata (then Calcutta) on December 27, 1861. R Thomas & Company, which later became today’s J Thomas & Company Pvt. Ltd, was the auctioneer. As J Thomas & Company enters 150 th year of operation today, its Chairman, Mr Ashok Batra, discusses with Business Line, various issues facing tea broking business.

How it is like heading a company engaged in tea broking business for the past 150 years?

A bit of history first. The original company did not start as a tea broking firm. In 1776, Thomas Marten & Company, which after several changes became J Thomas & Company, started in Calcutta as broker of indigo, jute and shellac. The world’s first public tea auction was organised in Calcutta by R Thomas & Company on December 27, 1861. The company later became J Thomas & Co. Pvt Ltd.

Ours is a unique firm in more ways than one. It is the largest and oldest tea auctioneer in the world, handling about 200 million kg of tea annually. Maintaining this leadership position continuously for 150 years has not been easy. It has been possible not only by the company’s large pool of trained and expert tea tasters and auctioneers, but also by its accent on ethics and integrity. The company is uniquely structured, with current working employees being the shareholders. This ensures independence, transparency and professionalism, while empowering employees. 

India Infoline

Jasmine Kohli / 13:49 , Dec 16, 2010

Roshni Sen, Deputy Chairman, Tea Board of India, MSc (Physics) joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in the year 1993. As Chairperson of the Tea Board of India, she handles the entire gamut of work related to the tea industry. She has also worked as sub-divisional officer Kalimpong where she handled devastating landslides and disastrous fires. As an Additional District Magistrate and Collector in the districts of Nadia and South 24 Parganas, she was Special Secretary in the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and handled various PPP projects like City Centre at Salt Lake and Hiland Park Housing complex, the Kolkata riverfront at the Millennium Park. She has also worked as Project Director IPP VIII Calcutta, a World Bank Project on Urban Health Worked as District Magistrate and Collector in the districts of Hooghly and South 24 Parganas and took up initiatives in women and child development, poverty alleviation and handled ‘Gangasagar Mela’, elections, floods and cyclones in addition to all the work in connection to development, revenue collection land acquisition and law and order in the district.

The Telegraph December 2nd 2010  Jorhat, Dec. 1: Bagisa Shramik Santha and Asom Majuri Shramik Union, the two registered unions of Assam, have demanded that the Centre and the tea industry hike the daily wages of labourers working under the national rural job scheme and those of tea garden workers to Rs 200 at the earliest. The two associations, claiming to have nearly one lakh members across the state, have threatened a massive agitation if their demands were not met immediately. Members of the two associations will stage a Dispur gherao on January 8 in support of their demand.