Kochi: With the escalating Israel - Palestine conflicts, the tea sector has plunged into crisis leading to a fall in market prices by around five percent, said vendors. The current crisis comes amid the tea sector’s slow recovery from the fall in prices due to a global financial crisis. Apparently, tea exports are likely to drop in the coming days. 

CTC (crush, tear, curl), orthodox (loose tea leaves) and green tea are majorly produced in India. Of this, green tea production is relatively low. Orthodox tea is of huge demand in foreign countries. The major buyers of Indian tea include countries like Iran, UAE, US and Iraq. 

With the aggravating conflict, exports to various countries could be adversely affected leading to further crisis. Tea is exported through the ports as air freight is expensive. 

Rise in production 

As per reports, there has been a rise in tea production in the country during the past eight months (January - August 2023). Around 80.12 crores kilo of tea was produced during the period. Of this, 15.6 crore kilo (25 per cent) accounts for production in south India.