The Tea Board is pinning its hopes on market diversification to temper the impact of the war in West Asia, the largest consumer of Indian teas outside India.
The region accounted for 115 million kg of exports in FY26, which saw the highest annual shipments at 282.11 million kg.
Even though FY27 started on a weaker note due to the war in Iran and the adjoining region, the Board hopes to maintain last year’s level by deepening its presence in China, North Africa, Egypt and Canada in particular.
Exporters have diversified into new markets despite the geopolitical challenges, said
C. Murugan, deputy chairman of the Tea Board.
China, traditionally a green tea market, has started consuming black teas, both orthodox and CTC, allowing India to make inroads. Exports to China increased to 18.38 million kg in FY26, compared with 11.6 million kg in FY25. “But we do not want to depend on China alone. North Africa, Egypt hold promise, as does Canada,” Murugan said on Tuesday.
The deputy chairman, who, along with Amit Kumar, joint secretary in the department of commerce, held a review meeting with tea industry stakeholders in Calcutta, said the Board is actively planning both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) promotional activities in the international market to support exports.
Although Murugan warned that completely mitigating the impact of the West Asia war would not be easy, given Iran is a major buyer of Indian teas, there are expectations that exports could even surpass the FY26 level if the conflict eases and trade normalises soon.
Central scheme
With a BJP government now at both the Centre and the state, Bengal will participate in the Pradhan Mantri Cha Shramik Protsahan Yojana (PMCSPY), a three-year scheme with an outlay of ₹1,000 crore.
Following the recent constitution of the state-level committee, a prerequisite for implementation, the scheme is expected to gain momentum across the state’s tea-growing regions.
The scheme, aimed at improving education, healthcare and housing facilities for tea workers, has an allocation of ₹314 crore for Bengal alone.
