Calcutta, April 19: Adverse climatic conditions in Assam will pull down the total tea production in the country this year.

Heavy rain and hailstorms have severely damaged the tea bushes in the Barak valley of Assam over the past week. There are 116 gardens in the region, which produce 56 million kgs of CTC tea annually.

“Due to the hailstorms, production of the second-flush tea, which fetches good prices at auctions, has been the worst hit. The April-May crop will be down by at least 50 per cent. The annual output of the valley will also be affected,” said Suresh Bansal, president of the Tea Association of India.

There is already a perceptible fall in the overall tea production in the first two months of this year. It was down 3.14 million kgs, from 35.6 million kgs in January-February 2003 to 32.4 million kgs in the same period of 2004. In the previous year, the country produced 857 million kgs of tea.

Upper Assam has also received excessive rain, which may affect production in this region.

Based on the initial trends, the members of the Consultative Committee of Planters’ Association have decided to scale down the production figures.

The worst-affected areas in the Barak valley are the Chutla Bheel, North Cachar, Lakhipore and Happy Valley regions.

All lines of communication — roads, telecommunication and rail routes — have snapped and the valley has been cut off from the mainland.

The tea industry in Barak Valley has been reeling under crisis over the last five years and its capability to shoulder this natural calamity has been substantially curtailed. The industry needs funds immediately for repair/restoration of damaged houses, factory sheds and other structures.

About 70,000 workers in the region have been hit hard by this adverse climatic condition.

The industry has urged the Assam government and the Centre to come forward with some financial help.

Export cheer

Although the industry expects a lower production in the current year, the exports may go up.

In the first two months of this year, exports were up 4.57 million kgs compared with the previous year.

In the first two months of the previous year, the tea industry exported 20.35 million kgs. This has shot up to 24.92 million kgs in the same period this year.

With the opening up of the Iran market and renewed interest from Iraq, the Indian tea industry hopes to beat last year’s export figure of 173 million kgs.