Demand for tea is increasing, there is also good news in production

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The National Tea Day-2022 is being observed today (June 4) for the second time in the country with the theme ‘Cha Dibosh er Songkolpo, Somriddho Cha Shilpo’ (A prosperous tea industry is the pledge of Tea Day).

President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have issued separate messages, on the eve of the day, conveying greetings to all who are involved in the tea sector.

In his message, President Abdul Hamid said the tea industry has been deeply involved in the history and heritage of Bangladesh for long 180 years.

The Prime Minister, in her message, said Bangabandhu made outstanding contributions to the country’s tea industry during his tenure as Chairman of the Tea Board and later as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Under his direct instruction, the Tea Research Institute at Srimangal and the Tea Board office at Motijheel, Dhaka were established in 1957, the premier said.

Due to Corona, the demand for tea went down for two years. These two years have been a difficult time for tea production and marketing companies. The demand for tea is increasing this year. With that, the production is increasing till now as compared to last year. Imports are also declining.

The demand for tea in Bangladesh has been increasing since a decade ago. As economic activity increases, so does the rate of tea drinking. And as the market continues to grow, large industrial groups are involved in production and marketing. Marketing companies take various steps to increase tea consumption.

Tea marketing companies say the Corona situation has returned to normal this year after the situation was brought under control. The demand for tea outside the house is increasing. Marketing companies are expecting more demand ahead of the end of the domestic fruit season.

Shah Moinuddin Hasan, General Manager of Ispahani Tea Limited, a leading tea marketing company, said the demand for tea has been increasing since the beginning of this year as compared to two years ago. This demand will increase further by the end of July.

The Tea Board last published the demand for tea in 2019. The demand for tea that year was 9 crore 52 lakh kg. The company has not released demand data for the next two years. However, analysis of production, import and export data shows that at this time the demand has come down below 90 crore kg, which is now increasing.

According to the Tea Board, the production of tea in the first four months of this year was 70.59 lakh kg. At the same time last year, the production was 59 lakh 18 thousand kg. As a result, the growth rate produced in 4 months is 19.

Md. Shah Alam, chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association, an association of tea garden owners, said it was difficult to predict yield at the beginning of production. However, without favorable weather and insect infestation, the yield is expected to be better than last time.

The Tea Board has set a production target of 10 crore kg this time. Last year, 9.65 crore kg of tea was produced, which was the highest in the history of tea cultivation. This success in tea production has come at the hands of the producers. Tea gardens benefit from remediation activities and new investments in tea production. The Tea Board also took various steps to expand tea cultivation. That is why production is increasing.

Tea cultivation is increasing every year. To encourage tea exports, the government decided to provide incentives for exports. Bangladesh Bank issued a circular in this regard in November last year.

The condition of export of tea produced in one's own garden is given as a condition of getting incentive in the circular.

According to the marketing of tea, tea produced in the garden has to be auctioned off. Most of the companies buy tea from the auction and export it. Producers can collect a maximum of 25 percent tea from their gardens with the permission of the Tea Board.

According to the two exporters, most of the exporters are not getting incentives due to this one condition in the export incentives. This condition conflicts with the marketing of tea. They demanded the withdrawal of this condition to increase exports.

Tea once became an import-dependent product as production did not exceed demand. In order to meet the demand, 84 lakh kg of tea had to be imported in 2018-19. With the increase in production by the hands of domestic entrepreneurs, there is no need to import to meet the demand.

About 2 lakh kg of tea has been imported in the first four months of this year. At the same time last year, there were 3 lakh 63 thousand kg of tea. The top companies import these teas mainly to diversify the taste of tea. Tea is no longer imported to meet domestic demand.

Chairman of the Tea Board Major General Md. Ashraful Islam said that various steps of the government are being implemented to bring prosperity in the tea industry. Various projects have been undertaken to increase tea cultivation in the plains. Surveillance has been increased at the rate of 2.5 percent per annum.

|Source: Online/SZK