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“Almost 6.5 per cent of the global market is tea, and 50 per cent of that is from China. Almost 25 per cent of the rest comes from India and the rest is shared among all the remaining tea producers in the world. In this picture, Sri Lanka does not own more than 5 per cent of the tea market in the world. Nevertheless, our small share is very significant for its diversity; Ceylon tea is diverse in terms of flavours, size of the tea leaves and the tea grade,” shared Chairman of Sri Lanka Tea Board Niraj De Mel.
Tea industry in Sri Lanka
“Sri Lanka is blessed with unique climate and geography. Hence, the tea grown in different regions named as high grown, medium grown and low grown, classified according to the elevation and taste difference. Several other factors such as rainfall and terrain too influence this,” he said. “Thanks to this wide variety and uniqueness in our tea production, there is special place for ‘Ceylon Tea’ in the world, and it creates a high demand.”
According to him, local tea production is exported to over 130 countries in the world in different quantities. “The secret is,” explained De Mel, “The taste of tea depends on the water in which the leaves are boiled. The composition of water is different from one country to another, and hence, the same tea would taste differently in different countries. Fortunately, since we have a wide variety of tea, we can supply the best-suited tea to the countries. It creates a high demand.”
Speaking about the tea industry’s contribution to the national economy, the Chairman of Sri Lanka Tea Board stated that tea is accountable for 11 per cent of the country’s exports and moreover, tea’s contribution is as high as 60 per cent in total agro exports.
“Moreover, our reliability and turnover time is excellent. No other tea exporting country can compete with us. We can ship an order of any quantity in a very short period, like in two weeks,” added De Mel.
Recovering from the many challenges
“True, the demand for Ceylon Tea is high, nevertheless, the availability low,” revealed the De Mel. “Local tea industry has had to go through a plethora of challenges, especially since 2020. The year set off with a drought and was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in travel restrictions. This had a toll on the production.
“However, we were able to reach a considerable production in 2021. Alas! Then came into action was the ban on chemical fertiliser. The soil was not ready for an overnight shift to the organic fertiliser and the organic fertiliser stock in the country too was not enough. Due to this, the production saw a drastic downfall.”
However, De Mel said that the fertiliser ban, notwithstanding the production loss, was sort of a blessing as well, because the soil got an opportunity to naturally rejuvenate, after long years of exposure to the chemicals. “Now the ban is lifted, yet the prices of the fertilisers remain too high that the small and medium scale tea producers find it difficult to afford them. The large companies, on the other hand, were reluctant to use fertiliser because there was no way to kill the weeds with the ban on glyphosate,” he explained. “However, now the glyphosate is available again, after many requests made by us, and producers are slowly using fertiliser. Therefore, we are seeing a slight recovery in the production. Our hopes are high for the coming months.”
Plantation workers
De Mel, speaking on a further note, said that the negative publicity received by the tea producers basically about the living conditions of the tea-estate workers is becoming a challenge. He said it could create a trend to reject tea drinking culture in society. “Various NGOs and other organisations take a very negative impression on their life conditions to the world. They may be trying to uplift the lives of those people, but there are practical issues in it.
“Especially, in the local context, they are treated way better than in other countries. There are rules and regulations as well. Moreover, the minimum salary of a tea state worker was raised to 1000 rupees a day. Though, there could be shortcomings in the proceedings. The Tea Board can monitor the regional plantation companies, but the reigns are not on the small holders. Howbeit, we always try the best to ensure their welfare,” he added.
Sustaining further
Speaking on a further note, he shared that the sustainability factor in tea industry is three-folded; economic sustainability, environment sustainability and social sustainability. There should be plans to empower the worker as well as the estate owner or the producer. Also, the attention must be on environment; not just on how to minimise the impact of plantation industry on environment, but also on how other forms of environmental pollution affect the tea plantations.
“In fact, we are now encouraging the producers to utilise solar power as much as possible in their factories. There is a loan scheme too, which we have introduced with the aim of promoting solar panels,” noted De Mel.
“In terms of future actions, I would prefer if we could enter into mutual agreements with countries such as China, so that we can obtain knowledge, skills and technology to increase our productivity. Also, we can enter into the global market with win-win partnership,” suggested the Chairman. “Our tea industry has the potential to expand very further. Hence, it is important that we take actions to these aspects along with ameliorating the quality standards of our tea.”
Source: https://ceylontoday.lk/2023/06/10/for-ceylon-tea-to-thrive/
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