The North Bengal Tea Auction Centre (NBTAC) in Jalpaiguri conducted a successful trial run of the tea auction process on Monday.
The trial run was conducted ahead of the resumption of the tea auction at the centre, which closed in 2014.
In 2005, the NBTAC opened at Shivaji Road in the town. However, due to an abysmally low inflow of tea, it had closed down.
Recently, stakeholders of the tea industry took the initiative to make the centre functional and it was decided that the auction will resume on March 31. Many tea estates and bought-leaf factories (BLFs or standalone tea processing units) assured that they would sell their tea through the centre.
Today, eight brokers and 47 buyers participated in the trial run during which the highest price for a kilo of Dooars tea reached ₹532.
“Some prominent corporate groups, buyers and broker houses participated in the trial run. We are confident that from March 31, we will be able to resume tea auction at the centre,” said Purajit Bakshi Gupta, the vice-chairman of the North Bengal Tea Auction Committee that runs the centre.
Sanjay Dhanoti, the chairman of the task force that was formed to reopen the auction centre, said tea companies like Tata, Duncans, Goodricke and Hindustan Unilever participated in the trial run.
“It is encouraging for us that such prominent players of the tea industry have participated today. Such a response will help us revive the centre,” he said.
In north Bengal, the other auction centre is in Siliguri which has been running since 1976. Unlike Siliguri, where an auction is held every 21 days, auctions here at the NBTAC would be held every 11 days, said Bakshi Gupta.
He said that they had also come up with cash discounts offer to draw buyers to
the centre.
“After buying teas through auction, if a buyer makes the payment within seven days of the auction, he will get a cash discount of 2 per cent of the total amount from the seller. Similarly, a buyer will get a cash discount of 1 per cent, if the payment is made within 14 days of the auction,” he said.
