Future Tea Price, Nilgiris Green Tea Prices per Kg Upswing from last Year

Tea price of Nilgiris green tea seems to be on the upswing. From a paltry Rs 4 per kg last October, it has shot up to Rs 16 per kg.

"The price of green tea has more or less stabilised and is quoted between Rs 15 and `16 per kg. The average price of prepared tea sold in the Coonoor tea auction centre has been Rs 73 per kg, which is a good sign for the industry," R Amabalavanan, executive director, Tea Board (South), told The Times of India. B Mathan, a small tea grower, said that the cost to farmers is anything between Rs 7 and Rs 9 per kg, for the expenditure incurred on wages and manure.

The sharp drop to Rs 4 per kg last May had adversely affected nearly 70,000 small tea growers in the hills. The Nilgiris tea leaves, famous for its strong flavour and light brown brew, is grown in nearly 1 lakh acres on the hill slopes by small farmers apart from big company estates. B Manohar, a tea factory owner said, "Of course, the tea market is looking upward, but small farmers are yet to regain lost ground." He also said that in peak yield season, which is between April and October, the supply of green leaf tea by the small farmers to his factory is roughly around 8,000 kg per day. During the off-season, the factory receives only about 2,000 kg of tea leaves. In the last seven to eight months, tea farmers suffered a loss of over Rs 3 per kg, due to high production costs.

Ambalavanan said, "Prices have gone up and the quality has also improved," adding that the situation is encouraging. Tea Board (South) sources disclosed that prepared-tea fetched an average of Rs 72.73 per kg in the Coonoor auction centre in February.

The quantity of tea on offer at the Coonoor auction centre last week was 6,70,000 kg out of which 5,62,000 kg were sold. It is worth-mentioning that in 2009, the demand for tea across the globe was about 3,743 million kg while the supply was about 3,860 million kg. India's share in the supply was about 191 million kg of tea.