The shift to packets is one of the factors making tea ‘loose’ out in India, traders of the beverage say.
Tea had a growth story riding on loose sale in many urban spaces across the country with specialist retailers offering estate or region-based teas of various grades packed in rectangular plywood boxes, replaced by mostly jute bags and paper sacks more than two decades ago.
The evolution of the packing material coincided with loose tea consumption giving way to packet tea. “Beyond Assam and West Bengal, where you still have retailers selling loose tea from different gardens to choose from, much of India has switched to packets sold mainly by grocers for whom tea is just another commodity,” a member of the Federation of All India Tea Traders’ Association (FAITTA) said after its 10th annual general meeting near Guwahati on August 31.
To keep prices down, these packets usually contain a blend of various grades from the low-priced to the premium teas. This is believed to have made the average consumer switch to cheaper teas, impacting profitability across the chain from the planter to the retailer.
“The producers’ associations and the Tea Board have been concerned about the sluggish consumption growth in India. As retailers, we are witnessing the market movements from close quarters and loose tea is losing ground to packet tea,” FAITTA chairman Sanjay Shah said.
The rising food inflation has affected the consumption pattern too.
“With essential food inflation reigning high, consumers are scaling down purchases both in terms of volume and price points to impact demand. Rising transportation costs and sharp increases in tea (input) cost have put packers under pressure,” he said.
According to FAITTA, tea production recovered from 1,366 million kg in 2022 to 1,393 million kg in 2023 but was short of the 2019 level. Exports also dipped from more than 250 million kg to 210 million kg in 2020 and 196 million kg in 2021, and after some recovery in 2022, it fell to 228 million kg in 2023.
The production recovery softened the average price of tea by about ?20 per kg in 2022 to hover around the ?180 per kg mark in 2023 after some fluctuations.
Food safety in tea
Mr Shah said the FAITTA submitted a food safety roadmap for tea to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for good agricultural practices involving integrated pest management.
In November 2023, the FSSAI mandated the testing of teas for the incidence of 20 pesticides banned for use in dust, granular, and leafy tea. It defined the maximum residue limits (MRLs) of 33 chemicals for tea through the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulation, 2011, and a few amendments.
“Mostly grown in tropical conditions, tea is vulnerable to pest, disease, and weed attacks which can potentially destroy the plant in the medium or long term and adversely impact the quality and quantity of the leaf harvested in the short term, threatening the economic viability of the tea plantations,” he said.
“Thus, tea cultivation, like any agricultural crop demands judicious use of plant protection formulations, which constitute pesticides, fungicides and weedicides to maintain plant health and minimise crop loss,” Mr Shah said.
“As the national food regulator, the FSSAI has recently proposed the formation of an inter-ministerial committee for an in-depth look into pesticide applications at the farm level. We have requested that the November 2023 and March 2024 notifications relating to banned chemicals be de-operationalised till the committee comprehensively examines the issue (of MRLs),” he said.
Published - September 07, 2024 04:56 pm IST
