Tea Board cracks down on substandard imports
Tea Board of India cracks down on substandard imports
Tea importers directed not to blend imported tea with local tea
New Delhi, Nov. 11 (Delhi Crown): The Centre government has taken a strict initiative to ensure that sub-standard tea leaves are not imported and distributed in India.
A notification in this regard was issued on Thursday (Nov. 11).
As per the directions of the Minister of Commerce and Industries, four circulars have been issued by the Centre-run Tea Board for protection of Darjeeling GI.
All importers have been directed to ensure that origin of imported tea is mentioned in all their sale invoices and not to pass off imported tea as tea of Indian origin.
All distributors of tea have been directed not to blend cheap and inferior quality imported tea with Indian Origin tea for domestic consumption.
Manufacturers of Darjeeling tea have been directed not to purchase green leaf from the outside GI area.
The tea buyers have been directed not to blend imported tea with tea of Darjeeling/Kangra/Assam (Orthodox)/Nilgiri (Orthodox).
In order to ensure compliance of the above directions, the Tea Board has started surprise checks on distributors/importers especially of Nepal Tea. Surprise check of three units in Siliguri was conducted on Thursday and samples were drawn for testing.
It may be noted that there have been some reports highlighting surge in import of tea which is adversely affecting the Domestic Indian Tea Industry. Though, percentage of imports to total tea production is normally in the range of 1- 2%, out of which a sizable quantity is meant for re-export and not meant for domestic use. The main purpose of tea imports into India is re-exports upon value addition and for blending purposes. As compared to India’s tea production, tea imports are minimal.
