June was a better month for tea production in the country as the output increased in all the planting districts compared to June 2020, as per the latest data released by the Tea Board.

Overall, India produced 168.84 million kg (mkg) compared to 139.25 mkg in June 2020 – an impressive increase of 29.59 mkg or 21.25 per cent.

Consequently, India’s tea production in the first half of the current calendar (H1) has increased by 94.37 mkg or a notable 27 per cent over the same months of 2020.

“According to our compilation, the production till June rose to 443.85 mkg from 349.48 mkg in January-June 2020,” Rajesh Gupta, compiler of Global Tea Digest, told BusinessLine.

The increase was more in North India than in the South.

North Indian figures

“In the North, production rose to 321.48 mkg from 250.71 mkg in Jan-June 2020, marking a gain of 70.77 mkg or 28.23 per cent,” Gupta said.

Assam topped the country’s production table at 179.32 mkg – up from 133.58 mkg in Jan-June 2020 – a whopping increase of 34.24 per cent.

West Bengal’s output rose to 132.35 mkg from 110.11 mkg in January-June 2020 – a gain of 20.20 per cent. Here, the world-famous Darjeeling recorded an output of 2.38 mkg from 2.12 mkg, posting an increase of 12.26 per cent.

“In the South, production increased to 122.37 mkg from 98.77 mkg, posting a gain of 23.60 mkg or 23.89 per cent,” he said.

Here, Tamil Nadu produced 86.59 mkg (Jan-June 2020: 66.76 mkg) and Kerala 32.69 mkg (29.42 mkg).

If this trend were to continue in the second half, India’s production this year would be more than in 2020, producers said.

This would reverse the falling trend witnessed in 2020 when the output was lower than the previous year by as much as 132.55 mkg.

This is significant on two counts – India is the world’s largest producer of black tea and the availability of different types of teas from all the regions of the country has increased.