The tea industry's cup of woes brimmeth - scanty rainfall and pest attacks have dragged down production in May, prices are lower than last year, and demand from some export markets is muted. Production in North Bengal - comprising the Dooars, Terai, and Darjeeling - is majorly affected; parts of Assam are also hit. Arijit Raha, secretary general, Indian Tea Association (ITA), said that the Tea Board numbers for April show a crop loss of about 9 per cent for North Bengal, compared to last year.
The industry began to upgrade its practices even before the NGO alleged Indian tea contained harmful pesticides.
India's tea exports are set to be on target in the year to March 2003 while coffee shipments would surpass the projection and hold steady at the previous year's level, officials said on Friday.
India's exports of tea to Pakistan jumped nearly 73 per cent to 6.4 million kg in 2003 from 3.7 million kg in 2002, even as the country's total exports during the first 11 months of last year came down 22.18 per cent
According to World Population Review 2025 data, United States eats the most cheese in the world. It also the world largest cheese-producing country. In 2022 it manufactured 6.4 million tonnes of the world's output of 22.6 million tonnes of cheese in the same year.
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's former first female prime minister and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness.
Tea estates across Assam and West Bengal, which were hitherto closed owing to the lockdown, opened in April.
The quality of Indian tea had lately come under scrutiny in major export markets, due to the presence of pesticides and chemicals beyond permissible limits.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 1st Ashes Test played in Perth on Friday.
Efforts to revive tea gardens in India have received a boost following the launch of the first round of special purpose tea fund loans to Assam on Monday.
Tea growers and traders in India can heave a sigh of relief now with the country's tea export to Pakistan showing tremendous improvement.
Iran is India's largest importer of tea in value terms while in terms of volume, it is the second largest after Russia
Sale of India's specialty tea varieties from exclusive estates in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are on the rise in the domestic market, and sought after in overseas markets too.
'...yet struggles to convert that human capital into domestic productivity.'
'We've maintained that India is a high-penetration game. It's not only a premiumisation game.'
According to Darjeeling Tea Association, in 1986 the Darjeeling logo was created and registered in the UK, the US, Japan, Canada and Egypt, and under the Madrid Agreement also covering Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and former Yugoslavia.
The world-famous Darjeeling tea is losing its flavour even as it struggles with falling production, says Avishek Rakshit.
As the economic crisis in Sri Lanka - the world's largest exporter of orthodox tea - continues to rage across the island nation, tea producers in India look to cash in on the opportunity to seize the market. The country's largest tea growing company, McLeod Russel India, expects orders to come in from July. "A huge opportunity is coming up for everyone in India. "McLeod Russel is well placed because we have the capacity for orthodox tea," said Azam Monem, director, McLeod Russel. About 10 per cent of McLeod's production is orthodox tea.
India are yet to win a Test in Birmingham in nearly six decades -- boasting of a dismal record of seven losses and one draw in eight attempts.
Planters from Assam said despite the Covid-19 pandemic, trade enquiries from China had been rising. However, owing to the growing conflict, enquiries may dry up. 'We have seen how the trade dried up in case of the Pakistan conflict and fear the same,' a planter from Assam said.
Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani returned a five-wicket haul as a dominant Mumbai crushed Himachal Pradesh by an innings and 120 runs.
Scanty rainfall, last year's lockdown, growing competition from Nepal and the disaster of the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation are steadily weakening exports and sales of Darjeeling tea.
Fastest 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 in Tests...
India's trade relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan are expected to come under strain due to Ankara and Baku backing Islamabad and condemning India's recent strikes on terror camps in Pakistan. Following their support to Pakistan, calls for boycotting Turkish goods and tourism have surfaced across the country, with online travel platforms such as EaseMyTrip and Ixigo issuing advisories against visiting these nations.
More than 30 hours have passed since the horrific crash of Air India's London-bound flight in Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad shortly after its take-off from the city airport snuffed out the lives of 265 people, including 241 passengers and 12 crew members.
The tax department has created many circular traps -- flawed reporting formats, penalties for those who point out the flaws, and faceless assessors with no accountability. The result: Millions of taxpayers face needless harassment and procedural dead ends, highlights Harsh Roongta.
Across five fiercely contested Tests, more than 7,000 runs were scored, including a record-equalling 21 individual centuries. Every match stretched into a gripping fifth day. The sun shone, the stands were full, and the cricket -- emotional, enthralling, and endlessly unpredictable -- captured imaginations around the world.
Rough estimates from plantation companies have pegged production loss in excess of 100 million kg (mkg) across India which is valued at around Rs 2000 crore. Usually, plantation companies in Assam and West Bengal produce around 15 per cent of the total tea during March-April.
A minimum levy of 12 per cent GST on tea will increase the cost, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers.
They were asked to wait for 72 hours, but the deadline passed on Sunday and the wait seems endless.
'They are in a very bad state. They have to be forced into eating.'
India's craft chocolate makers are changing the market by using local cacao, creating bold new flavours, making chocolate both a luxury and a story.
The tea industry, hit by rising costs, falling prices and political unrest in the North Bengal plantations, is especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 lockdown.
As an IAS officer in Kerala, Gyanesh Kumar -- who the Congress described as Amit Shah's 'right hand man' -- had a good working equation with the state's Congress and Left leaders.
The real intention of the 'Tariff Man' (as Trump calls himself) may not even be to put the 'Tariff King' (as he describes India) on the mat with a knockout punch but to arm-twist the Indian leadership to agree to some multi-billion dollar mega arms deal, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Out of the 745 gardens in Assam, which accounts for over 55 per cent of total tea production, an alert has been sounded for 88 gardens, while for West Bengal, out of the 377 gardens, 65 have been cautioned.
At 235,000 tonnes per annum, Pakistan is the third largest importer of tea in the world as it can't grow tea because of adverse climate conditions. India supplies just about a tenth of tea imported the neighbouring country
Images from Day 2 of the 'Pink-ball' second Test between Australia and India in Adelaide on Saturday.
India did not respect the match situation, the playing conditions, and the bowlers, and they've paid a price for it.
Wolvaardt and Luus joined forces to push the hosts on the backfoot.
