COMMODITY
India's April tea output falls 54% Y-o-Y amid coronavirus lockdown
Jul-07-2020

Tea Board has said that India's April tea output fell 54% from a year earlier to 39.02 million kilograms (kg) as restrictions to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus reduced plucking in the top producing north-eastern state of Assam. For Assam alone, output in April plunged 76% from a year ago to 10.99 million kg.

In the first four months of 2020, India produced 113.36 million kg of tea, down 40% from a year ago because of lower production in March and April. India, the world's second-biggest tea producer, exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, with the orthodox variety shipped to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

India's tea output is likely to drop by 120 million kgs or 9% in 2020 as lockdown measures initially forced plantations to suspend plucking during the opening harvest - the prized first flush - and then operate with about half the workforce.

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