The Assam situation has begun to worry the tea industry, which has already lost around 28 million kg of its crop, due to adverse weather conditions so far this year. This translates to a 11.5 per cent drop in the first five months of 2012. During June, a further drop of 8 per cent is being estimated.
Industry sources said that all efforts were being made to prevent a spill-over of the violence in the garden areas. Assam accounts for half of India’s annual tea output, which averages at around 950 million kg. The major tea-growing areas are Upper Asam, Assam North Bank, Central Assam and Cachar.
“The unions have initiated peace meetings among various ethnic groups in the garden areas,” a senior official at the apex industry body, the Indian Tea Association, told The Hindu . Some of the worst-affected areas are contiguous with the tea-growing areas of the north-eastern state. “Although, so far, production has not been impacted, our immediate concern is the report of some sort of a disruption in traffic movement on the NH-37 which can affect movement of output and inputs and rations for the garden..” The NH-37 traverses the entire width of the state. The industry is worried especially since this is the peak tea-growing season.
