Offerings rises in North Indian tea auction to 4.2 lakh

Last week at Sale No. 41, the total offerings (packages) at the three North Indian tea auction centres at Kolkata, Guwahati and Siliguri were 4,27,331 as compared to 1,52,290 in the corresponding sale of the previous year when No Sale was reported at Guwahati and Siliguri, according to J Thomas & Company Pvt Ltd, tea auctioneers.

At Kolkata, the total offerings were 1,46,843 (1,52,290) comprising CTC/Dust 1,03,190 (1,05,864), Orthodox 37,931( 40,886) and Darjeeling Tea 5,722 (5,540).

The corresponding offerings at Guwahati were 1,57,541 (No Sale) and at Siliguri 1,22,947 (No Sale).

Selected clean and better liquoring Assam CTC teas were firm to dearer while the remainder were irregularly lower following quality. Well-made Dooars sold readily at firm rates while the remainder tended irregularly easier. Tata Global was active. There was good support from Hindustan Unilever. Western India dealers were active for the liquoring sorts. There were fair enquiries from North India as well as local sections. Exporters operated on the bolder brokens and fannings.

Orthodox whole leaf grades sold at easier rates. Brokens and fannings followed a similar trend. Continental buyers operated selectively on the tippy sorts.

Darjeeling whole leaf and broken grades sold around last levels while fannings were irregularly lower. There was useful enquiry from traditional exporters. Hindustan Unilever was active with fair support from Tata Global. Local dealers operated for the brokens and fannings.    

Source: Business Line

Tea baron held for bar attack - Brew auction stopped, market closed after arrest

Siliguri, Sept. 2: The chairman of the Siliguri Tea Auction Centre and a businessman were arrested today for allegedly leading a group of people who had attacked a bar with crooners at Sevoke Road yesterday. The STAC chairman, Gangadhar Agarwal, and the owner of a chain of sweet shops, Pradip Bansal, have been charged with theft, assault and mischief and remanded in 14 days’ jail custody. Traders shut down the auction centre and the wholesale grocery market in Khalpara, where Agarwal and Bansal reside, to protest the arrest. Around 40 people carrying Congress flags barged into Rave Up, a bar where singers perform live, and went on the rampage. In his complaint filed with Bhaktinagar police, the owner of the bar, Vijay Sharma, alleged that the attackers had heckled his staff and taken away cash from the counter. “All of them suddenly entered the bar and smashed the furniture. I have no clue why they attacked my bar as only live singing is allowed and there is no question of dance performance to which they were objecting. Two of my employees have suffered injuries as they tried to dissuade the attackers,” said Sharma. Recently, a forum known as Singing Bar Pratibad Mancha had emerged in town with the backing of the Congress. “Our key demand is to stop the practice of singing and dancing in bars. We have been organising a movement in a democratic manner for the past three months and have no connection with yesterday’s incident,” said Jayanta Saha, the joint convener of the Mancha. The office-bearers of the Mancha and bar owners held a meeting on Wednesday and it was decided that there would be no dance performance in any outlet selling liquor in Siliguri. “Regarding live singing, a seven-member committee comprising the representatives of the Mancha and bar owners’ association was formed to look into the issue and decide on timings, dress code of the singers and other issues,” said Saha. He said both Agarwal and Bansal were members of the Mancha and were wrongly implicated in the case. The duo were arrested from their homes. As the news spread, the tea auction came to a halt. “We did not participate in the auctions today to protest against the arrest of the STAC chairman,” said Bajrang Sethia, a senior member of the Siliguri Tea Traders’ Association. Around 100 million kilogram of tea is traded at the centre annually. The auction will resume at 9am tomorrow. Shops downed shutters in Khalpara as both Agarwal and Bansal were from there. “Both are our members and we protest the way they have been falsely named in the case,” said Kailash Agarwal, the secretary of the Siliguri Merchants’ Association. The arrested men were produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Jalpaiguri. The judge, Debabarata Mukherjee, rejected the duo’s bail petitions and ordered 14 days’ jail custody for them. They would be produced in court again on September 16. The North Bengal Musical Bar Owners’ Association has denied the allegation that dance performances are held in their outlets. They said all musical bars would be closed for an indefinite period from today. “We condemn the way a bar here was ransacked without any provocation yesterday,” said Rohon Sarkar, the association’s secretary. “Unless the issue is resolved, we will not open our establishments.” Sources said Darjeeling district Congress president and Matigara-Naxalbari MLA Shankar Malakar would hold a meeting with the bar owners tomorrow. He is known to have backed the Mancha and protested against such bars. The Darjeeling district magistrate, M.K, Gandhi, said the district administration gave permission for only singing in bars. “We don’t allow live dance in bars. Permission is given for live singing with certain conditions.” Source: The Telegraph

India set for a record with tea e-auction

The face of tea auction in India, which accounts for 53 per cent of total sales, is set to change.

The electronic auction of tea would be the first in the world and there is apprehension from stakeholders as it calls for a complete overhaul of a system, which dates back to 1861. The pilot in Kolkata is slated for introduction over the next few weeks though there is leeway up to the first week of April, which is when the new season teas would come up for sale. In South India it would be launched within a month.

Though the government has not made e-auction mandatory, it has made it clear that this would be the preferred route that it would want to see functioning. Inaugural e-auctions have been held at all six centres, Kolkata, Siliguri, Guwahati, Coonoor, Coimbatore and Cochin.

A major buyer said, “Hope the e-auction does not drive the buyers towards private sales, which in any case is half of the sales now.” The contention is anonymity in the process. “If I don’t know what my competitor is buying, how do I get the feel of the market. The current physical auction system is a barometer to prices and demand. For the seller, if he does not know who the buyer is, he could be underselling,” said another industry representative.

The industry appears to be divided over the merits and demerits of e-auction. Kiran Desai, who heads the blending and buying at Tata Tea said, it was too futuristic for the present. Tata Tea buys about 50 million kg tea from the auctions. However, Aditya Khaitan, MD, McLeod Russel India, the world’s largest bulk tea producer said, it was step in the right direction.

His only apprehension was whether the system could take on the workload of the auction system. In 2007, of a total production of 945 million kg, 503 million kg were physical auction sales.

Mixed response to Tea

Tea met with mixed response in the sale held here on January 8 and 9. A total of over 14.68 lakh kg of tea were offered in the sale.

In the Orthodox Leaf market whole-leaf grades met with fair demand and sold at irregularly lower levels by a rupee to Rs two. The secondaries and fannings were absorbed at barely steady levels.

Selective demand was witnessed on the range of teas on offer in the CTC leaf market due to non-movement of teas to their destinations because of the All India Trucker strike.

Select brighter liquoring teas fetched dearer prices on competition while the others were fully firm. The better medium and medium sorts were irregular and lower by up to a rupee.

However, the plainer teas met with good demand and sold at firm to occasionally dearer levels, especially the cleaner and blacker varieties.

Select flavoury primary dusts met with good demand and sold at premium levels while the others were irregular and lower in the orthodox dust market. Leaf secondaries were irregularly lower by up to Rs two, while the powdery residuals were absorbed at last levels.

Good demand was witnessed on the brighter liquoring teas which were absorbed at firm to dearer rates in the CTC dust market.

From PTI