Official black tea production data for the first half of calendar 2015 have, by now, come in from all major producing countries.

With all of them except India posting a lower production, the global availability has shrunk compared to this time last year.

“In the first half of current calendar, global black tea production has fallen to 823.79 million kg (mkg) from 884.12 mkg in the same months of 2014”, Rajesh Gupta, compiler of annual Global Tea Digest, told Business Line.

This shortfall of 60.33 mkg marked a decline of 6.82 per cent.

“The main reason for the shortfall is the whopping reduction of 49.92 mkg in Kenya where production has fallen to 175.26 mkg from 225.18 in Jan-June 2014 due to adverse weather”, Rajesh Gupta noted.

Other African majors, Uganda has reported 11.84 mkg shortfall and Malawi 4.27 mkg shortfall.

In Asia, Sri Lanka, which has been posting a higher production till May, has reported a marginal shortfall of 0.24 mkg at the end of June.

“On the other hand, production has risen significantly in India. Till June, India has produced 10.13 mkg more than the corresponding period of 2014. Production has risen to 398.84 mkg from 388.71 mkg”, Rajesh Gupta said.

In the first half of current year, North India produced 7.54 mkg more to reach 275.22 mkg. South India produced 2.59 mkg more to reach 123.62 mkg.

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