BITTER BREW

Calcutta, Sept. 12: Tea stocks worth Rs 50 crore are lying idle in the warehouses of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri because of the floods in North Bengal.

This comes at a time when 13 tea estates in the region are closed.

Production in the Dooars has also taken a hit as excessive rainfall and reduced hours of sunlight have damaged the crop.

“The exact quantity of crop loss is yet to be identified,” said Monojit Dasgupta, joint secretary of the Indian Tea Association.

The piling up of stocks may also affect cash flow into the estates.

The flood waters have damaged bushes, factories and labour lines.

“Many of the gardens are already in a bad shape with no funds for operational purpose. This will hit the sector badly,” said a Tea Board official.

In a letter to the Tea Board, the Siliguri tea auction committee has stated that tomorrow’s auction has been deferred on a request from brokers and buyers.

“Tea sold in the previous four to five auctions are stuck in the warehouses. Therefore, buyers do not have the cash to buy in the auction and neither is there space to store it,” said a buyer from Siliguri.

The Domohona bridge, the region’s link with north India, has also collapsed.

July was a bad month for north Indian tea exports.

The price plummeted to Rs 130.49 per kg from Rs 153.56 per kg last year.

The appreciation of the rupee by almost 9 per cent hurt exporters.

In north India, export volumes decreased marginally to 5 million kg in July from 5.2 million kg last year, according to figures released by J Thomas & Company.

Kenya, on the other hand, had a bumper crop this year. Exports rose 48 per cent to 195 million kg between January and June.