Iran back in the market for Indian Tea ...

After a dearth of nearly a year, the payment crisis with Iran has been sorted out and handrolled Indian tea is set to be exported to Iran once again. The crisis caused handrolled Indian tea prices to crash as the main outlet was closed off. This spring, handrolled tea production is set to rise by 10 million kg to around 80 million kg in total, of which something like a third will be exported to Iran. Tea producers are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of the prices increasing by around 10%.

Indian Tea Problems Boost Chinese Tea Industry

Last month saw the news that the tea industry in India's Barak Valley was under serious threat. The reasons cited were poor infrastructure and power cuts. The roads leading into and out of the valley have deteriorated to such an extent that transporting the tea out has become extremely difficult. There are financial difficulties too. Frequent increases in power tariffs increase production costs and a lack of subsidised fertiliser adds to the problems. Such are the penalties of industrial scale production of tea. In China, a lot of tea production is still in the hands of small family producers high in remote mountain regions. The tea is grown naturally without added fertilisers as are required in the over-exploited plantations (tea gardens) of India. Processing of the leaves is minimal and carried out using traditional methods so power requirements are minimal. Since the quantities produced are small, transport is also considerably less problematical.

Even the Assam tea region is finding things difficult. The plantations are being badly affected by drought conditions at crucial times of the year. Chinese production is often in the high mountains where the air is pure and fresh and the rainfall reliable. Larger corporate tea plantations are fine as they can afford their own irrigation systems, however, medium and small growers are hit and are asking the government to help.

But this is not something that customers of In Nature Teas would notice. The teas are from China and grown traditionally and organically in the mountains. Mother nature provides the irrigation and fertilisers. A less intensive and traditional way of growing negates the need for the use of electricity during the picking and processing. Picking is by hand. Processing is done via centuries-old methods producing the finest quality pure Chinese teas. These are bought in bulk by In Nature, packaged for your convenience and shipped around the world. When you buy these teas, you pay for tradition and quality but not for fertilisers, electricity and goverment subsidised industrial production.