INDIAN TEA INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE IN 2021 - 2022
India is the second-largest producer of tea globally. Indian tea is one of the finest in the world .
India is also among the world's top tea consuming countries, with 80% of the tea produced in the country consumed by the domestic population. India's total tea production for the financial year 2021 was 1,283 million kg.
Major Tea ProducersThe northern part of India is the biggest producer at about 83% of the country's annual tea production in 2022 with the majority of the production coming from Assam followed by West Bengal. The Assam valley and Cachar are the two tea producing regions in Assam. In West Bengal, Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling are the three major tea producer regions. The southern part of India produces about 17% of the country's total production with the major producing states being Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
Tea ExportsIndia is among the top 5 tea exporters in the world making about 10% of the total exports. In 2021, the total value of tea exports from India was around US$ 687.9 million. Indian Assam, Darjeeling, and Nilgiri tea are considered one of the finest in the world. The majority of the tea exported out of India is black tea which makes up about 96% of the total exports. The types of tea exported through India are: Black tea, Regular tea, Green tea, Herbal tea, Masala tea and Lemon tea. Out of these, black tea, regular tea and green tea make up approximately 80%, 16% and 3.5% of the total tea exported from India.
India's total tea exports during 2021-22 in quantity was 201 million kg. The exports from India in terms of quantity for the period January-December 2021 was 197 million kg with the total export value of US$ 718 million. During the financial year 2021-22 period , India exported tea worth US$ 458.88 million. India's export price per kilogram has seen a steady increase over the years.
India exports tea to more than 25 countries throughout the world. Russia, Iran, UAE, USA, the UK, Germany, and China are some of the major importers of tea from India. During 2021-22 Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan imported 32.5 million kg, 1.68 million kg and 6.48 million kg of tea from India. Iran, UAE and USA are among India's top tea export destinations. During 2021-22, the three countries imported 29.3 million kg, 23.3 million kg and 13.5 million kg of tea from India.
Some of India's other tea export destinations are Poland, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Japan, Pakistan and Australia, etc. All these countries combined accounted for US$ 116 million of tea exports from India contributing to 16% of the tea export revenue for the year 2021-22.
