Not everything that sparkles is gold and your morning start to the crimson orange tea may not be the Assam tea you think it is. Assam tea growers and planters have expressed concern over the unethical trade of illegally imported Nepal tea being traded as the brand Assam tea.
After affecting the sale of Geographical Indication (GI) tagged Darjeeling Orthodox tea, illegal entry of Nepal CTC (Cut-Tear and Crush) in Assam market jeopardized the prospects of Assam tea in local and international market Is.
As per the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), no other tea, except imported tea, can be blended with Assam (Orthodox Tea), Darjeeling, Kangra and Nilgiri (Orthodox Tea) Which has GI (Orthodox Tea). Geographical Indication) tag.
“Nepal has been producing tea in recent times and is adjacent to Darjeeling tea though separated by geographical boundaries. Tea production in Nepal is relatively new and the soil is virgin. This has affected Darjeeling orthodox tea, which has an international GI (Geographical Indication) tag,” said Vidyanand Borkotoki, Consultant Northeast East Tea Association (NETA).
Borkotoki said Ilam is a major tea-producing region in Nepal along the Indo-Nepal border in North Bengal. “as India And Nepal are good neighbors and they have a free trade agreement (FTA), Nepal tea officially and illegally enters Siliguri in North Bengal and then finds its way into Assam.
“The Tea Board has recently recovered tea from Nepal from a tea factory at Golaghat in Upper Assam. The samples have been sent for further testing,” Borkotoki said.
As per the records provided by the Panitanki Land Customs Station in Nepal, 67.05 million kg of Nepal tea has been imported from the neighboring country from 2014 to October 2020. Six samples have been tested in the laboratory between 2018 and 2020.
“Assam produces 700 million kilograms of tea annually. There is a surplus of 100 million kilograms of tea per year. The invasion of tea from Nepal has further reversed demand and supply. Moreover, the landing cost of Nepal CTC tea ranges between Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg and that of orthodox tea is between Rs 200 to Rs 300 per kg, while the landing price of Assam CTC is Rs 180 per kg,” Borkotoki said.
He further said that the tea of Assam is going through a difficult phase, where green leaves, which were sold at Rs 40 per kg last year, are selling for just Rs 18 this year. “More than 50% of the tea produced this year was lying unsold in the godowns this year,” said the NETA advisor.
There are about 800 large tea gardens in Assam and more than 1.5 lakh small tea growers. More than 20 lakh workers are directly or indirectly engaged in these tea gardens.
“The government needs to check this unethical practices where tea from Nepal is re-exported as Assam tea. Even the entry of 10 million kg Nepal tea into the Assam market is enough to jeopardize the economy of the Assam tea industry,” Borkotoki said.
Rubbing the wounds of the ailing Assam tea industry, more than 50% of the packaging of Assam tea produced during the April-May period has been rejected by buyers and exporters, as these teas are found to have high residual limits. According to these buyers, these teas failed as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
However, Borkotoki states that the residual limit standards set by FSSAI cannot be achieved. “We have received endless calls from buyers complaining of failure of tea to meet FSSAI grade. We had a meeting with Dr. Anoop Kumar Barua, Director, Tea Research Association in Jorhat, who is an expert on this. We came to know that the maximum residual limit of FSSAI cannot be achieved.
“On August 21, 2020, FSSAI has made a draft notification in which the limits were relaxed. For example, the MRL for quinalphos a pesticide is 0.01 mg per kg which has been increased to 0.07 mg per kg in the draft. The final notification is yet to be issued due to the pandemic,” he explained.
“We appeal to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to take up the issue with the Government of India and publish the final notification,” Borkotoki said.
As per the FSSAI rules, it is mandatory to test the tea twice in a year in an FSSAI approved laboratory.
Federation of All India Tea Traders Association (FAITTA), the apex trade body of packet tea players that includes Tata Global Beverages, HUL and others, tested the tea at an independent firm, Eurofins Analytical Services India. Eurofins has indicated that the chemical content exceeds the maximum residue level and does not conform to the FSSAI standard.
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.