Import pattern (Tea)

World imports

World tea imports was to the tune of 14.05 lakh tonnes in 2004.  The major importing country of tea was Russian Federation with 1.72 lakh tonnes with 12.25 per cent of total world import. The other major importing countries with more than 1 lakh tonnes are are UK (11.13%) and Pakistan (8.26%). Countries other than the top 10 importers contributed 43.8 per cent of the volume of world import of tea and 47.9% of the value.

Global tea import during 2004

The following piechart shows the country-wise import of tea during 2004. It is seen that Russia (12.25%), UK (11.13%) and Pakistan (8.25) were the largest importers and countries other than the top importers accounted for 43.80 per cent of the global tea import.

Import pattern of tea in terms of quantity (% Share)

India’s import

India's import of tea has increased from 0.10 lakh tonnes valued at Rs. 67.01 cores in 2001-02 to 0.19 lakh tonnes valued at Rs.108.16 crores in 2005-06. The years 2002-03 and 2004-05 witnessed high import with 0.24 lakh and 0.32 lakh tonnes respectively.

Import of tea into India during 2001-02 to 2005-06

The following figure shows the import volume of tea into India for the years 2001-02 to 2005-06 in quantity terms, years 2002-03 and 2004-05 registered higher imports.

Import of tea into India during 2001-02 to 2005-06

Of the total import of tea, 25.02 per cent was from Nepal. The other important sources of import in 2004 were Vietnam (22.66%), Kenya (19.77%), Indonesia (10.45%) and Argentina (5.59%).

Country wise import of tea into India during 2005-06

The source-wise import of tea into India is shown by the following pie chart.

Import share of tea into India in quantity terms during 2005-06