Tea bodies loud CM's budget speech

The joint forum of Assam Tea Planters Association (ATPA), North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) and Bharatiya Cha Parishad (BCP) welcomes the budget speech of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and appreciated the CM’s resolve during the ongoing budget session where he announced that the central government has been requested to declare 'tea' as the national drink and this would be vigorously followed up. This was stated in a joint statement issued by A.R. Kasera Chairman ATPA, Bidyananda Barkakoty Chairman NETA and Manoj Jalan Chairman BCP. Tea, which has been giving Assam a special identity, will give the state more prestige if it becomes the National Drink of the country and with the National Drink status to the beverage, its domestic consumption will increase and this will in turn give more confidence to the small tea growers, who are first generation entrepreneurs they added. The declaration of tea as the state Drink of Assam by Tarun Gogoi at the World Tea science congress at the Tocklai centenary celebration will remain as a red letter day for the Assam tea industry in particular and for the people of Assam in general and we hope a formal notification to this effect will follow very soon, they further added.

The forum also welcomed CM’s announcement in the budget to decrease the tax from 1% to 0.5% for sale of teas through Guwahati Tea Auction centre (GTAC) which will help in increasing the quantum of sale through GTAC. It is worth mentioning that Assam is the largest tea producing state of the country and it is also the place from where the march of the Indian tea industry started. Assam tea was one of lndia's first offerings to the world. Way back on May 8, 1838, 350 pounds of Assam tea was dispatched to London and sold at India House, London, on January 10, 1839. Since then, over the last 172 years, it is perhaps the only industry where India has retained its leadership. Tea industry is also one of the largest employers in the organized sector in India and significantly 50% of workers are women. India is the largest producer and largest consumer of black tea in the world. Symbolism apart the declaration of tea as the National Drink will be a good idea for bolstering the marketing of Indian tea.

Source: Assam Times

More fringe benefits for tea workers

Guwahati, Aug. 27: The tea industry has agreed to increase the quantum of fringe benefits to its workers.

It has acceded to increase the quantity of dry tea given to daily workers, the firewood given to sub-staff and the incentives given to workers engaged in spraying operations, as demanded by the Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS).

A memorandum of settlement to this effect was signed in Dibrugarh yesterday between representatives of five employers’ associations and the ACMS, which represents the workers.

The meeting was attended by DoNER minister Paban Singh Ghatowar, who is also the president of Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangha. This is the first tea industry meeting that Ghatowar has attended since becoming DoNER minister.

The agreement was signed after several rounds of bilateral discussions between the ACMS and the Assam valley branch of the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations.

The chairman of Indian Tea Association, C.S. Bedi, was also present at the meeting.

According to the agreement, permanent workers who earlier got 600gm of dry tea per month per family, according to the 1979 fringe benefits agreement, will get 900gm per month with effect from September 1.

Single workers will now get 400gm of tea compared to the previous 300gm.

The firewood entitlement, which was fixed at 228 cubic feet according to the 1979 agreement, has now been increased to 342 cubic feet. The agreement will be interim till the time LPG is made available.

It was also decided that the sprayers engaged in gardens will get an additional compensation of Rs 3 per day.

“The agreement will have some financial impact but we are doing this for the welfare of the workers since we care for them,” a tea industry official who attended the meeting said.

The industry has been asking the Centre to share half the social cost borne by the plantation industry but nothing has materialised despite various committees’ recommendations.

The social cost is now Rs 9 per kg of made tea.

The social cost incurred in providing housing, health and sanitation to the workers is being borne by the industry.

Bonus pledge nips protest bud - McLeod Russell assures employees of equal perks

Dibrugarh, Aug. 24: McLeod Russell India Ltd, the largest tea producing company in the world, has agreed to “remove all disparity and work out a formula to maintain uniformity in giving bonus to its employees employed in the gardens of Assam”.

This declaration comes in the wake of the declaration of an agitation by the All-Assam McLeod Russell Employees Co-ordination Committee.

The decision was taken during an eight-hour bilateral discussion yesterday between members of the committee and company representatives at the Assam Branch Indian Tea Association (Abita), Zone-I office here.

The meeting started at 2.30pm and went on till 11pm.

A team headed by Girish Chandra Borpatra Gohain, the general secretary of the Asom Chah Karmachari Sangha, represented the committee.

The sangha is the lone recognised trade union for tea garden employees in the Brahmaputra Valley.

Visiting agent Nandu Gangulee led a team of senior executives, which represented the company.

The employees’ committee, which functions under the Sangha, had earlier announced a three-phase agitation from August 22, against the alleged “arrogant attitude” of the company in settling its 19-point charter of demands.

“We had a threadbare discussion on some of the demands raised by the co-ordination committee and assured them that the company would do its best to find a solutions to the demands. We also appealed to the employees’ committee to withdraw their strike to which they agreed,” a company representative said.

“There are certain issues, which we would like to settle through the Consultative Committee for Plantations Association (CCPA), which is the co-ordinating body for all planters associations. We are happy that the discussions were held in a very cordial manner. We have decided to meet soon and finalise the agreement,” he added.

“Since the company had agreed to hold discussions and assured us of a patient hearing, we have decided to keep our agitation in abeyance for a month’s time,” Bhupen Borgohain, the president of the committee and secretary of the Moran circle of the Sangha, said.

McLeod Russell is the largest tea company in the world with 66 gardens.

In Assam, the company has 49 gardens with 2,500 employees.

The main demands of the employees includes increase of the retirement age to 60 years from 58, removal of disparity in payment of bonus to the employees, appointment of regular staff, abolishment of illegal voucher payment to retired staff whose services are extended on a contract basis and implementation of a uniformed seasonal allowance system.

Source: The Telegraph

Tripartite meet on tea garden tomorrow - Kallinecherra management declares lockout after labour unrest

Silchar, July 20: Tension has been simmering in a prime tea plantation in south Assam’s Cachar district for the past three days after the management declared a lockout following labour unrest.

The assistant labour commissioner of the state government in south Assam district, A. Howbam, has scheduled a tripartite meeting in his office here on Friday to restore normality in Kallinecherra tea estate, 45km west of this town.

Soumendu Mukherji, the secretary of the Barak Valley branch of the Tea Association of India (TAI), said at least three incidents of intransigence of workers over the past six months had prodded the management of Kallinecherra to clamp an indefinite lockout in the garden with effect from Monday, which is pay-day in the garden.

He said the latest showdown between the management and the workers took place on July 15 with the workers demonstrating in the office of garden manager A.R. Murya against the alleged “harassment and intemperate behaviour” of a senior official holding the post of tillababu in the garden’s Digarkhal division.

The assistant general secretary of Cachar Cha Sramik Union, Dinanath Baroi, today said the tillababu, Kirit Mohan Bhattacharjee, had provoked around 800 workers by asking at least five women workers, under the leadership of a tea plucker, Anita Bhumij, to do some work other than their daily duty of plucking tea leaves. The workers went to the manager’s bungalow and then to his office to lodge a protest. When the manager refused to meet them, the labourers ransacked both these establishments and damaged other garden property as well.

Soon after the workers’ protest, the authorities rushed a posse of policemen to the garden as the tension was escalating.

Baroi alleged that instead of solving the impasse, the management took recourse to lockout, which meant that the workers would be denied their wages and food rations.

The meeting called by the assistant labour commissioner will be attended, besides Howbam, by representatives of CCSU, the only recognised tea workers’ union in Barak districts, the management of the garden and TAI.

The stalemate in this profit-making garden comes at a time when this plantation has started reaping profits since 2008. It had slid into a phase of uncertainty for five years starting 2002 because of the recession in the tea industry.

The tea estate, located along NH44 on way to Meghalaya, is a property of the Calcutta-headquartered Loobah Tea Company Ltd. The annual output of the garden, which sprawls on 460 hectares, is pegged at about six lakh kg of CTC tea.

The Telegraph

Small tea growers usher in winds of change in Assam

A green revolution is sweeping Assam, empowering many people for the first time and rejuvenating the state's economy. Small tea gardens now dot the landscape as more and more people turn their backyards into mini tea plantations.

It does not really matter if you have a small patch of vegetable garden to spare or a big mass of land.

According to the All Assam Small Tea Growers Association (AASTGA), the number of small tea growers has swelled to 65,000 in the last two decades. And it is on the rise.

Assam currently produces around 480 million kg of tea. Around 30 percent of this comes from small tea growers.

Lakhi Gogoi is one of the many who has his own tea garden - Rajashree Tea Estate - in the upper Assam district of Tinsukia.

'In 2008, my green tea leaf production touched 80,000 kg. In 2009, it rose to 81,000 and this year I am expecting it to touch 100,000. Tea business is good business,' Gogoi told IANS.

Although Gogoi worked in a well-known tea company earlier, he had no knowledge of the business.

'I am well accustomed to the knowhows of tea cultivation, spraying pesticides, pruning and plucking. It was a matter of time before I realized that if the big tea companies can grow these plants and reap such big benefits, so can I,' he said.

'After years of toying with the idea, I began my venture in 1996 on a small patch of land. Over the years, I scaled up my operations and now grow tea in 50 bighas of land,' Gogoi said.

Depending on the market conditions, the price of green tea leaves varies between Rs.12 and Rs.18 a kg.

Said an AASTGA official: 'By growing tea in underutilized uplands, small tea growers have brought in a green revolution in Assam by bringing in huge socio-economic changes.'

'More than 900,000 people are involved in the small tea growing business in Assam. Almost 250, 000 hectares of land is covered for such plantations. They contribute to 29 percent of the total tea produced by Assam, which is 14 percent of the total tea production of India,' the official added.

Even farmers in villages, who traditionally grew vegetables, are now opting for tea cultivation. 'Tea cultivation brings much higher profits and is a steady source of income,' said D. Bora, a farmer.

In a state where unemployment looms large, youth are the biggest beneficiaries.

Rajiv Sharma, 28, decided to try his hands in tea plantation two years ago. He started small -- growing tea bushes in the backyard of his house. And there has been no looking back since.

'My parents were initially sceptical and said tea production has always been the big companies' cup of tea. But I was willing to take the risk. I started small and now have the capacity to invest in more land for more plantations,' Sharma said.

Unlike the big tea companies like McLeod Russel India and Goodricke, small tea growers do not have their own factories. They sell their leaves either to the big firms or smaller private factories which in turn manufacture and market it under different brands.

One of the challenges that the small tea growers are facing is that of maintaining quality.

'Not all growers are aware of banned chemicals. All they seek for are strong pesticides which will kill the pests - thus making the wrong choice. As a result, this tea does not get a good price at tea auctions,' Sharma told IANS.

It is for this reason tea leaves of small growers are manufactured and branded differently from the main brands by the big tea companies. Nevertheless, almost 25 percent of the tea manufactured by the tea moghuls are from the small growers.

While the small tea growers are helping to change the socio-economic condition in Assam, they hardly get any help from the state government.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia's recent announcement of a special scheme to provide financial assistance to the community has, however, given them some hope.

'If the government is seriously thinking of helping us, it will be great. We are after all an unorganized sector. Let's just hope it is not another empty promise,' said Gogoi. 

Source: IANS

Elephant found dead at Assam tea estate

Nagaon, Assam: A male elephant has been found dead at the courtyard of a house inside Kalidan tea estate near Nagaon in Assam. It's unusual for an elephant to die in such circumstances unless electrocuted. Workers at the tea estate insist the elephant died of natural causes.

255 elephants have died in Assam as a result of conflicts with humans between 1990 and 2003. Most of them were poisoned or electrocuted.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced earlier this week that the government will declare the elephant a National Heritage Animal as part of a new initiative.

The Elephant Task Force - made up of 12 members - has also recommended setting up a National Elephant Conservation Authority, similar to the existing National Tiger Conservation Authority. The task force has presented the government with a comprehensive plan for how to protect elephants in the wild and in captivity, and alleviate the human-elephant conflict.

Source: NDTV

Tea industry unhappy over lopsided exemptions

GUWAHATI, April 18 – Though Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, in his budget, gave certain benefits to the tea industry, the associations representing the industry are disappointed with the budget and they feel that the budget would benefit only a handful of bog gardens. The industry also felt that the Chief Minister, despite promises made earlier, failed to provide a level playing field to the tea gardens of Assam by extending the concessions given by other tea producing states of the country.

The Chief Minister announced the Government’s decision to extend the exemption of Rs 5 kg of agriculture income tax to tea exported through the Inland Container Depot, Amingaon for another year , but tea industry sources said that only a handful of gardens of the state export directly through the ICD. Sources said that at present, only around 30 million kilograms of tea is exported through ICD directly every year against the average annual production of around 450 million kilograms. That is why, the concession given by the Chief Minister would only benefit a handful of big gardens, sources added.

The exemption on entry tax on import of tea will also not be beneficial for majority of the gardens. Sources said that only a handful of major tea companies import tea from other parts of the country for blending, while, in most cases, Assam tea is taken out to other parts of the country for blending.

Before the budget, the associations representing the tea industry submitted memorandum to the Government with the request to provide a level playing field by providing the concessions given by the other tea producing states of the country, but none of the demands were fulfilled, which came as a major disappointment for the industry. Sources said that Assam is the only tea producing state to impose cess on green leaf. Among the tea producing states of the country, apart from Assam, only West Bengal had imposed cess on green leaf but because of the present health of the industry, the Government of West Bengal gave a moratorium of five years to the gardens , which has been extended by another year in this year’s budget. But instead of reducing the rates of cess as demanded by the gardens, the Assam Government decided to increase the rate of cess from 32 paisa per kilogram in the Brahmaputra valley to 40 paisa and from 29 paisa per kilogram in the Barak valley to 35 paisa.

The decision of the state government to increase the land revenue rates would also have a major impact on the gardens coming out of the slump. Sources said that the land revenue rates in Assam are the highest in the country and the decision of the Government to increase the rates with retrospective effect of five years would put serious burden on the gardens.

Meanwhile, talking to this correspondent, secretary of the Tea Association of India (TAI), Guwahati, D Deka said that the budget was disappointing for the tea industry. He said that despite repeated requests, the State Government did not provide a level playing field to the tea gardens of Assam. He said that the decision to increase the land revenue with retrospective effect would have serious consequences.

Source: The Assam Tribune

Tea plucking rate revised

Guwahati, April 9: Garden labourers in Assam will now have to pluck 23kg compared to 21kg earlier and will get an incentive of 55 paise per kg.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha and the tea industry at the BCP Hall in Dibrugarh at the end of a two-day meeting that concluded today.

The tea industry was represented by five employers’ associations — the Indian Tea Association, the Tea Association of India, the Bharatiya Cha Parishad, the Assam Tea Planters’ Association and the North Eastern Tea Association.

The employees were represented by the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha.

The employees’ forum has been demanding a revision of plucking rates engaged in Brahmaputra Valley estates, as the last revision was done in March 27, 1993.

To improve productivity, the new incentive will be enhanced for output above minimum task of 23kg, in two slabs.

The incentive earlier was 27 paise per kg if they plucked more than 21kg.

For the first time, a new category of garden output has been added to the incentive slab.

If a worker plucks 24kg to the average output of the garden, he or she would be given an incentive of 55 paise per kg.

The average output of the garden will be calculated on the basis of the past three years (2007-09).

An incentive of Re 1 per kg will be awarded if a worker plucks more than the average output of the garden.

The meeting also expressed concern on the growing absenteeism and agreed to jointly address the issue.

A source said the ACMS has decided to opt for counselling the workers to control absenteeism.

Source: The Telegraph

Assam comes on India Inc radar

Kolkata: The North-East was never high on the corporate radar because of its insurgency-related issues and lack of infrastructure.

But things are changing now. Assam seems to be the next big-ticket investment destination for corporates if one scans the member list of the state’s newly-formed investment advisory board.

The state is wooing investments worth Rs 100,000 crore over the next five years and around Rs 35,000 crore alone could be channeled into riverways with 20 ports planned from Dhubri to Dibrugarh.

Development is slated to take place in six key areas — infrastructure, agri and agri-value-added services, housing, healthcare, education.

The entire development is proposed to be non/low carbon and all the major infrastructure players could be roped in.

Tatas alone, said sources, could bring in large investments in the state. It is learnt that Tata Housing has recently signed two MoUs with the Assam state government for setting up commercial and residential projects that will include an eco-city in which investments could go up to Rs 5,000 crore. DNA caught up with various government officials and corporate houses for a closer view of things.

Ranjit Barthakur, who pioneered the Assam Investment Advisory Board, said, “The Tatas are likely to invest another Rs 300-400 crore in their education and hospitality projects…The first Tata Institute of Social Sciences campus outside Mumbai is coming up in Guwahati.”

Guwahati’s first five-star hotel, Vivanta by Taj group is also on the anvil. In fact, Tata Group head, during first Assam Investment Advisory Board meet earlier this month, said: “We are here by choice…we have been attracted to the tremendous change seen in Assam…”

A number of frontline hospitality brands are also eyeing this north-eastern state.

Vindi Banga, president, global foods, home and personal care, Unilever, told DNA: “HUL will help out on a project to improve the quality, productivity and sustainability of the tea plantations in Assam, which are a state asset…HUL’s personal products factory today produces about 40,000 tonnes, employs 700 people directly and creates indirect employment for about 3,000 people. Most of our raw material for this factory is procured locally, from around 50 suppliers, most of whom are first generation suppliers for us.”

According to a State Bank of India official, “The financial giant is looking to increase its lending exposure, once big-ticket investors are in place here.” The bank has expanded rapidly over the last two years in the North-East, with around 520 branches, of which 263 are in Assam alone.

Aditya Khaitan, managing director, McLeod Russel, said, “We produce 72 million kg of tea from 50 tea estates in Assam and have started making other investments like jatropha planting. At some point, we could think of oil refining as well.”

Source: DNA

Rain cheer for tea industry - Planters hope for good first flush crop

Guwahati, March 31: Continuous rain for the past one week has brought cheer to the tea industry in Assam with planters hoping for a good harvest during the first flush that ends in May.

The tea produced from the leaves picked during first flush (March-May) is known for its strong and fresh flavour. Nearly 20 per cent of the total production of tea in Assam takes place during the first flush period.

Assam produces about 500 million kg of tea annually, which is more than 50 per cent of the country’s total production of the crop.

The state has over 800 tea estates spread across both the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys.

Upper Assam, the hub of tea activities in the state, recorded about 72.6mm rainfall in the past six days.

During the corresponding period last year, however, there was no rainfall.

“We are hoping for a good harvest during the first flush,” said Abhijit Sharma, chairman of the Assam Tea Planters Association.

Sharma, who is also a renowned planter, said Golaghat district, which witnessed a prolonged dry spell, had also been blessed with heavy rainfall in the past few days.

Upper Assam witnessed 22.4mm rainfall today, the heaviest during the past six days of continuous rainfall.

Kamala Kanta Nath, head of the department of agro meteorology at Assam Agricultural University, said the rain had come as a boon for not only tea but paddy crops as well.

“Last year there was no rain at all during this period. As such the agriculture sector was adversely affected,” he said.

A scientist at the Tocklai Tea Research Station said the rain had come as a blessing as pest attacks on tea bushes would reduce.

“Heavy showers have washed away the red spiders and helopeltis (tea mosquitoes) from the tea bushes. The pest attacks on the bushes will lessen now,” he said.

The Tocklai scientist said the cost of production would also come down since the planters need not use more pesticides like they would have to do in the case of a dry spell.

Apart from the tea-rich Upper Assam, the showers also brought good news to planters in Barak Valley.

“We are expecting a good harvest during the first flush. We hope to make up for the crop loss in the last few weeks,” said Dipanjal Deka, secretary of the Tea Association of India.

The association has several member gardens in Barak Valley.

Planters in Assam were a worried lot till a month back in view of the dry spell that began from December. The state witnessed a similar situation last year.

Another scientist at the Assam Agricultural University said the state had witnessed a tremendous climatic change in recent times with a decrease of nearly 50 per cent in annual rainfall in the last 15 years. Last year, planters had to carry out replantation in several gardens in Jorhat, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Sivasagar districts.

Source: The Telegraph

Mob sets tea factory on fire after owner ‘shoots teen’

A tea estate on the outskirts of Guwahati turned into a cauldron of violent protest after a boy died when the proprietor fired at villagers who had gathered near his bungalow to protest his alleged attempt to molest a woman this morning.

Police seized a Winchester rifle and a revolver from Mridul Bhattacharjee, the proprietor of Rani tea estate, but struggled to extract him from the estate as villagers went on the rampage demanding that the man be handed to them for street justice.

Security forces fired tear gas shells and wielded the baton for nearly eight hours during which time the villagers relentlessly attacked the estate property, reducing it to ashes.

The largely outnumbered security forces watched helplessly as they were more worried about protecting Bhattacharjee, who had confined himself to his bungalow, which is protected by an electric fence.

The mob burnt the factory, several vehicles, tea bushes and even attacked the animal farm owned by the garden. Several pigs and goats were butchered and charred in the onslaught.

By afternoon, the picturesque Rani tea estate factory area resembled a battle zone with fire and smoke everywhere.

The police finally evacuated Bhattacharjee around 4.30pm after teargas shells dispersed the mob that had been baying for his blood all day.

Trouble began after Bhattacharjee allegedly beat up and molested an NREGA worker, Jogomaya Boro, who was passing through the garden, for trespassing, around 8.30 this morning.

Jogomaya, a resident of Andherijauli village, was late for work and decided to take a short cut through the garden to her work site, about a kilometre from her house.

“She was accosted by the proprietor and was beaten up for entering the garden. Her clothes were also torn by him,” said Dhireswar Boro, secretary of Upardani Taluk Samabai Samiti.

Jogomaya reported the matter to the villagers who went to Bhattacharjee’s bungalow around 9.30am to protest against the ill-treatment.

“He (Bhattacharjee) opened fire on us from inside the house, killing Pradip Murari, a Class VIII student of Upardani High School and injuring four others,” Boro said.

The injured, Katiram Rabha, Suren Boro, Jagdish Boro and Ajoy Rahba, are being treated at Gauhati Medical College Hospital.

The police arrived soon after and confined Bhattacharjee to the bungalow along with his wife and a servant as the crowd went on the rampage, setting fire to the tea factory.

The crowd did not even allow the fire tenders to enter the factory and squatted at the entrance with the boy’s body and demanded that Bhattcharjee be arrested immediately and handed over to them.

All efforts of senior police and district administration officials of Kamrup (rural) and written assurance from the local MLA, Ramendra Narayan Kalita, and deputy commissioner, S.K. Roy to take stringent action against Bhattacharjee, failed to pacify the crowd, and the vandalism continued.

It was around 3.30pm that the police brought Bhattacharjee out of the bungalow, his hands tied with a rope, to prove that he had indeed been arrested.

That, too, failed to appease the crowd which set dry tea bushes along the pathway leading to the bungalow on fire.

Bhattacharjee presented a picture of calm despite the frenzy around.

The only time he reacted was when villagers were beating up a pig.

Finally, the IGP (central western range) Pallab Bhatacharyya, who arrived around 4pm, ordered the final assault of teargas.

The proprietor was then whisked away in a police vehicle under tight security.

Owned by the MKB (Asia) Private Limited, Rani tea estate was certified as organic in 2005.

Another tea estate, Satrupa, owned by the company, is in Tinsukia district.

We expect another year of very firm tea prices: McLeod Russel

Aditya Khaitan, MD, McLeod Russel, in an interview with ET Now predicts another year of very firm tea prices.

The tea deficit widened to 130 million kgs compared to 110 million kgs that was estimated earlier. What’s your own estimate of the shortfall in production globally and particularly in India?

Globally the world market has reacted in terms of shortage because of the draught that hit Kenya as well as Sri Lanka and India is because of the consumption story. So if you look at the three countries in totality, we are looking at around about 130 million shortage in the inventory pipeline.

I do not see any of these three countries in the near future being able to produce this shortage and meet the consumption growth at the same time.

In India, we are growing at around 3.5% in the consumption pattern, so India needs approximately 35 million kgs every year to feed its consumption growth. You have other countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Middle East and the other countries also growing at a much more slower rate but it is adding to the consumption growth pattern.

So going forward, I see that demand-supply mismatch will remain for the next few years and prices will remain strong for the next few years to come.

Particularly in India, the major tea producing states like Assam and West Bengal are clearly not likely to produce tea until early April. Keeping that in mind, what is your estimate of the shortage that India is likely to face?

We started last year with a shortage of around 20 million. This year, I do not see the production meeting last year’s target, so we will end up with at least a shortage of 10 million. Add to that the 35 million requirement for the consumption growth, you are looking at close to 45 million shortage in the pipeline.

So we will start this year in the month of March-April with about 65 million shortage. Obviously this will work out to the pipeline inventory levels of all the major packers in a very, very low level and they will be hand-to-mouth .

Also, new season tea buyers tend to buy because it is fresher, it is better quality and hence the price reaction will be much, much stronger than what we saw roundabout March-April of last year.

What’s your estimate on tea prices in the coming months?

I would like to clarify that when you talk of prices being all-time high, you must also see from the base from which the prices have started rising. In India, we were running at around Rs. 99-100 for the top level teas in 1999-2000.

From there, the price of tea dropped to Rs 72, in fact lower, and we came down to levels which are below cost of production. So we are now only playing catch-up to meeting the requirement of what is the inflationary levels of tea that should be.

If you just take inflation as a barometer from 1999 to 2010, then we are well below the inflation level also. So you can say the prices are moving up but according to me, we are only playing catch-up. We are still Rs 25-40 lower than what it should have been at this time of the year.

Any estimate for the year 2010 in terms of an outlook
for price?

It is a very, very difficult question to answer because it is basically related to weather also, so going forward, it all depends upon how the season starts in the month of March and April. If we get the rains that we want roundabout February-March to start the season going.

If the weather comes in, I feel the market will still open much stronger and then may be by July, it might start tapering off when the main bulk of tea start coming in. But if we open the year with a drought, then being a commodity, prices can go to any levels.

What are your current realisations per bag then and what does a Rs 10 hike per bag mean in terms of margins for you?

We have been able to increase our volumes over the last few years. For us, we are presently in McLeod Russell producing close to 80 million and a Rs 10 rise will obviously transform to 80 crores to the bottom line.

We have also made two acquisitions overseas with Vietnam last year and recently we have acquired 15 million kgs in Uganda. So obviously the price increase that will take place will substantially add to the growth in the bottom-line.

Our equity is strong. Our debt is coming down every year, so basically going forward, a Rs 10 increase would tantamount to close to 80 to 90 crores to the bottom-line of McLeod Russell.

Do believe that even if the crop is normal next year, we could continue to face supply shortage?

As I said to you that even if India produces 20 million extra this year in its production, it will still be falling behind the demand of 35 million. So therefore, going forward we have come to a situation where according to me the market, the whole that has been created of close to 130 million, will take a long time for any of the three countries to be able to match up.

So do you believe then that you actually expect to see a full year of firming tea prices ahead of us?

Well, we hope so. As per what I can see on paper, yes, we expect another year of very firm tea prices.

You recently acquired Uganda Tea Company for about 118 crores. What’s happening there and are you also looking at raising any funds, any other acquisitions in the non-organic space?

We do not need to raise any funds. We have managed to make the acquisitions out of internal accruals. As I mentioned, our debt equity is quite strong. We have enough cash accruals to meet the requirement and yes, acquisitions are an ongoing process. We will certainly keep on looking at strategic opportunities and if they make sense, we will certainly look at it much more seriously.

So what about acquisitions in Africa. Is that a space you are looking at?

We have a team that is looking around keeping an eye on what’s happening in the various countries in Africa and if any opportunities are around and if they are willing to be sold, yes, we would certainly show interest.

Electrocuted jumbo dies in Assam tea garden

GUWAHATI: An elephant was electrocuted near a tea garden in the Kathiatoli area of Nagaon district, about 140 km from here, on Saturday.


The carcass of the pachyderm was found near Kandoli tea estate. Forest officials said it was an accident and not a case of retaliatory killing. "The elephant died after its trunk touched a livewire near the tea estate. It was not killed by human beings," Nagaon divisional forest officer A Ahmed said. "There has been an increase in the movement of elephants between Karbi Anglong and Nagaon since the past few days. But there has been no untoward incident," he added.

The Burapahar forest range of Kaziranga National Park is in Nagaon district. On the south, it is bordered by the hilly and forested Karbi Anglong district. The man-elephant conflict has been on the rise in Nagaon. But the situation has not yet become as alarming as it is in Sonitpur, Golaghat and Udalguri. In Nagaon, most of the cases of man-animal conflict are reported from the Chapanala and Salna areas.

Shimanta Goswami, president of local NGO Green Guard said, "Elephants from Karbi Anglong come down to Chapanala, Salna and its adjoining areas almost everyday. Though there has been no man-elephant conflict in the recent past, herds of wild jumbos have damaged many houses and crops." He added, "Elephants are increasingly straying into human settlements as they don't find enough food in the forests after scanty rainfall. Though jumbos from Karbi Anglong often come down to Nagaon, the cases of man-elephant conflict has been lesser this time."

Statistics reveal Sonitpur recorded the highest human casualties with eight deaths till May 24 this year, while Dhubri comes second with five, followed by Udalguri (3). Two persons had been killed by wild elephants in the Chirang wildlife division in the same period. On the other hand, the Sivasagar Wildlife Division, Jorhat Wildlife Division, North Lakhimpur Wildlife Division, Dhemaji Wildlife Division and Goalpara Wildlife Division had recorded one human death each till May 24 this year.

India Times