Quality teas were now functioning as a separate food basket and the outlook for such teas would be good. This was revealed by the Chairperson of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) Sangeeta Kichlu.
She was talking to the media on the occasion of the 125 year of the CTTA, which is now the world's oldest surviving tea auction centre. She said that good teas would get good premium and “generally the market will be bright for such teas”. Observing that prices in South India were not rising, she said “if you produce medium teas you will struggle to cover costs.”
Ms. Kichlu said she was hopeful that the e-auction of Darjeeling tea would also start soon. “Since 2009, when e-auction was introduced, slowly all varieties of tea, except Darjeeling tea, is being sold through the e-auction process.”
Krishan Katyal, Managing Director of J Thomas & Co., said that some 500 million kg of tea were sold through e-auction.
Pointing out that there were some hitches that needed to be addressed before bringing the premium Darjeeling tea into e-auction, she said that while the technical issues were being addressed by NSE-IT, the trade felt that the uniqueness of Darjeeling be retained in the e-auction system.
