Tea production in the Nilgiris down 11{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} till May

Production of tea in The Nilgiris, the largest tea growing district in the South, has fallen till May compared to the same period of last year as also the normal as measured by the five-year mean for the period.

Tea companies in The Nilgiris have informed Tea Board that their output in May has fallen to 0.73 million kg (mkg) from 1.13 mkg in May 2019. This marked a massive fall of 35.40 per cent.

The loss was much more at 48.59 per cent compared to the normal production of 1.42 mkg for the month.

Consequently, in the five months, tea output has declined to 4.68 mkg from 5.25 mkg, marking a loss of 10.86 per cent.

The loss was much more at 18.32 per cent compared to the normal production of 5.73 mkg for the five months.

Prolonged dry weather affected harvest in tea fields and hence the supply of the raw material, green leaf, to the factories causing lower production.

Some producers said that the lockdown since mid-March was also responsible for lower output although tea industry was allowed to work with certain conditions.

The restriction in the number of employees and the movement of staff and materials as also the unavailability of parts and spares and technical support at the right time for machinery maintenance, all due to lockdown, affected the production in many factories.

The upset in the conduct of auctions due to lockdown resulted in accumulation of unsold teas forcing some factories to stagger production.

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