India’s May tea output up 18.4%

Friday, 14 July 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Mumbai (Reuters): India’s tea production in May rose 18.4% from a year ago to 121.33 million kg as plucking jumped in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the State-run Tea Board said in a statement.

Tamil Nadu produced 18.75 million kg tea in the month, up 96% from a year ago, it said. In the top tea producing north-eastern state of Assam, output rose 6.7% to 61.75 million kg.

India, the world’s second-biggest tea producer, exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the UK, and the orthodox variety to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

Ethnic unrest in India’s Darjeeling hills has wiped out the harvest of the world’s most expensive tea, disrupting supplies to European buyers and potentially pushing prices higher.