The Indian tea industry is expecting to achieve an export target of 230 million kg in 2013-14.
The quantum of teas exported in 2012-13 was 6.11 million kg more than the 2011-12 volume of 214.35 million kg.
Iran is a major buyer of teas produced in India. Exports to Iran in 2011 were of the order of 11 million kg. It touched 17 million last year.
Tea Board Chairman MGVK Bhanu is quite confident of crossing the 20 million kg mark this year.
Orthodox tea exports are also expected to go up, he said and clarified that he was referring only to quantity and did not mean in value terms.
‘Our strategy for exports will be further strengthened to ensure that the performance on the export front is laudable,’ he said.
The Tea Board Chief however drove the point that the Board would encourage export of high quality, value added teas.
‘We have identified five focus markets such as Kazhakstan, Iran, Egypt, USA and Russia. A number of initiatives have been taken towards strengthening our stand in these markets and we have achieved tremendous success,’ he said adding ‘we could not achieve success in branding of Indian teas though. We export in bulk.’
The Board is now in talks with the various stakeholders of the Indian tea industry for branding of Indian teas. ‘We need a brand identity for Indian teas,’ he said.