After spurt, Darjeeling tea demand slumps abroad

After an initial boost to Darjeeling tea prices, climbing a little over 10 per cent in the international market just after it staged a comeback after a year, these have dropped 10-15 per cent in the recent past. After a preliminary rise to nearly $45 a kg on average for the first flush (the year’s first harvest), prices are down 10-15 per cent from mid-April in private sales, nearly 80 per cent of the total, Kaushik Basu, secretary-general of the Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA), told Business Standard.

Binod Gurung of the Goodricke Group says: “Private sales will come down from the feverish excitement of early flush teas. So, this is natural.”

Sources in the industry suggest while the average was ~3,000-3,500 a kg in early March, this fell to ~1,500-2,000 a kg by early April and to ~900-1,000 by late April. Some exporters say buying in bulk from international packeteers and blenders has stagnated, even after the world’s most prized tea returned in the shelves of international tea sellers and boutiques.

“There has been an increased uptake from boutique tea buyers, which led to prices increasing initially. As boutique tea sales fell, the average prices also fell,” an estate owner suggested. Sugato Dutt, director at Subodh Brothers, a Darjeeling tea exporter, added: “However, bulk buyers and blenders from Europe and Japan are waiting but keeping a constant watch on the prices. It seems they might buy in the garden after the regular once the prices start hovering at $20-25 a periodical shutdown. kilo, on average.” Although the Darjeeling Last year, after the Gorkhaland agitation industry had expected interest in the for a separate state spiralled into a international market to be enormous as 104-day bandh, the Darjeeling tea industry soon as this tea was made available, the crumbled, losing over 70 per cent of response is short of this expectation. its production and ~3.5 billion. Due to its Gurung says the demand this time is “a long absence from the lucrative international little more” in comparison to the first market, producers feared such a flush of 2017. Basu says it is comparable prolonged absence might result in bulk to the enquiries and sales of last year. tea purchasers shifting to Nepalese,

This month, Andrew Yule, a staterun Ceylonese, Taiwanese and other teas — producer which owns the Mim garden the closest substitute to Darjeeling tea. in the Darjeeling hills, sold five kg Dutt says a large section of these of premium tea to Teabox, an online bulk tea buyers have already procured retail start-up, for ~15,750 a kg. Another ample quantities from Sri Lanka, small batch of boutique tea from the Taiwan and others, and are waiting for Namring Estate fetched ~12,500 a kg this stock to clear before purchasing in March, just after plucking commenced Darjeeling tea.