GUWAHATI: Assam’s tea business is in decline and hardly recognizable from what it once was. The main causes of this once-thriving company’s demise were the decline in harvest, the skyrocketing expenses of production, and the sharp decline in prices in the once-rich export market.
In response to this serious issue, Bharatiya Chai Parishad Chairman Nalin Khemani has proposed that sufficient promotion be given to Assam’s struggling tea sector, especially abroad, to enable it to access new markets.
Speaking to the media before the Union interim budget, he stated that the business sector needs to make sure that our exports increase and that tea is promoted. Our home market is overstocked, and there is little desire for exports.
He continued by saying that if the government works with the Tea Board to create a policy for tea promotion, it will be possible to access a new international market. Furthermore, claiming that the sector is under stress, the Bharatiya Chai Parishad has requested the Assam government—which is also scheduled to publish its budget for 2024–25 in the coming month—to lessen the industry’s overall societal cost burden. Any industry cannot be viable until it has a self-sustaining mechanism in place, claims Khemani. If the government can assume its social cost responsibility, the industry will gain.
