Tea production falls in 2020 by 9.7% from a year ago in India 

Indian tea production in 2020 fell 9.7% from a year ago due to heavy flooding and coronavirus movement restrictions, lifting average prices by nearly a third to a record high, Reuters quoted the Tea Board as saying.

The price rise supported the beleaguered Indian tea industry, which was struggling with rising production costs, but trimmed exports from the south Asian country.

In 2020, India produced 1255.60 million kilograms of tea, down 9.7 percent from a year ago as floods damaged tea gardens in the northeastern state of Assam — which accounts for over half of India’s production — where output had already been cut by labour movement restrictions to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Lower output lifted average tea prices in 2020 by 31% from a year ago to a record 184.69 rupees ($2.53) a kg, according to data compiled by the Tea Board and cited by Reuters.

Higher prices though, trimmed India’s tea exports, said an exporter in Kolkata.

“Indian prices jumped but prices in competing Sri Lanka and Kenya didn’t rise. Buyers moved to these two countries,” the exporter said.