KOLKATA:
India, the world's largest tea producer, is eyeing the market in war-torn Afghanistan to help boost its flagging exports, industry officials said on Friday.

Bharat Bajoria, chairman of leading producer body the Indian Tea Association, said a delegation is likely to visit Afghanistan within six weeks to explore market opportunities.

"India's position in Afghanistan has improved with a new government coming in there. It will be a good chance to take quick advantage of the situation and promote Indian tea," Bajoria said.

India has traditionally friendly ties with the Northern Alliance, an important constituent of the interim administration in Afghanistan.

"We have spoken to commerce ministry officials and the (state-run) Tea Board, which have assured us they would send a team soon to Afghanistan that would include industry officials" Bajoria added.

"The team is likely to visit within six weeks."

Tea is commonly drunk in Afghanistan, which has been a large importer of the beverage. But, in recent years, imports have fallen due to the continued unrest in the country, tea officials say.

In 1996, Afghanistan imported 48.1 million kilograms of tea. By 2000 however the figure had fallen to 23 million kg.

Falling Exports Drive
PushIndian tea has only accounted for a very small portion of Afghanistan's imports, but industry officials say that they intend to change the scenario with an "aggressive marketing push".

In 1996, India exported 848,000 kg of tea to Afghanistan but this came down to 282,000 kg in 2000. Efforts to tap the Afghanistan market follows a dip in Indian exports to traditional buyers like Russia and Britain.

India's overall tea exports fell almost 12 percent in January-November 2001 to 164.19 million kg compared with the same period in 2000.

"We need to get a team in Afghanistan fast and understand the consumption patterns of consumers, which have not been properly mapped in the last few years," another ITA official said.

Both green and black tea is consumed in Afghanistan.

India, apart from black tea, also produces between 8-9 million kg of green tea per year.

Bajoria said tea exports should form an important part of the $100 million line of credit that New Delhi has offered the new Afghanistan government.

He said that India's tea exports in 2001 were likely to be less than 185 million kg, down from ITA's projection in June of 215 million kg. It expects 2001 production to hover around 835-840 million kg.