Tea Board destroys 2500 kg
inferior quality tea leaves
With a view to discourage tea producers
from selling inferior quality leaves and stop
falling prices, the Tea Board burned nearly
2,500 kg (5,512 pounds) of substandard
tea in the southern city of Coonoor. The
Board had confiscated tea that failed to
meet government specifications for quality
from factories for this purpose. Ulhas
Menon, Secretary-General of the United
Planters Association of Southern India
said, "People started manufacturing all
sorts of teas and they were not bothered
about the leaves and the quality was taking
a beating." Besides, inferior quality tea,though not hazardous for consumers, had
tarnished India's reputation, Mr Menon
opined. He further said that the burning of
tea is purely a message to producers and
sellers to tell them to improve production
standard. "It's a bold statement though and
it will be interesting to see whether this
will continue," Mr Menon added.
It may be noted that
according to London-based
researcher Euromonitor,
India's excess tea production
had lowered prices and
reduced retail sales for several
tea wholesalers, including
Unilever NV and Tata Tea,
for quite some time now.
