Fides Tea Impex pvt ltd.

23/01/2025

*Indian tea industry worried about 288% jump in imports from Kenya*

Tea marketers suspect consignments from other African countries are finding their way to India through the Mombasa auction centre in Kenya

India, the world’s largest tea producer after China, has become the largest importer of the beverage from Kenya.

According to the Tea Board of Kenya, exports to India shot up from 3.53 million kg from January to October 2023 to 13.71 million kg during the same period in 2024.

The 288% jump makes India the country’s largest importer of its teas, it said.

India’s tea exports also increased from 184.46 million kg from January to October in 2023 to 209.14 million kg during the same phase in 2024, the Tea Board of India’s report on tea exports during 2024 said. The increase was by a tad more than 13%.

Assam and West Bengal accounted for the bulk of the teas exported.

The leap in tea imports from Kenya has been a cause of concern for tea producers and traders in India, which has been grappling with oversupply for some time although production in the country drooped by more than 50 million kg in 2024 with Assam recording a crop loss of about 20 million kg.

“The imports from Kenya in recent months have been alarming as the oversupply in India has kept the prices of local teas in check.

Some Indian brands use the cheap and lower-quality African teas as well as substandard teas from Iran and Vietnam for blending and re-exporting as Indian teas,” a tea producer said.

“Uncontrolled imports of tea and their re-export as Indian tea affects the image, demand, and price of Indian tea.

Exporters of genuine, qualitative Indian tea have been hit by those exporting lower-grade imported tea as Indian tea. This needs to be addressed,” Indian Tea Exporters’ Association chairman Anshuman Kanoria said.

The average price of the imported teas from Kenya is ₹156.73 per kg compared to ₹252.83 per kg fetched by Assam tea in auctions up to October 2024.

Tea industry captains attributed the entry of cheaper teas to the abolishment of the North Indian Tea Council which monitored the quality and minimum residue limit (of pesticides) compliance of teas.

The Indian tea players are also worried by the possibility of teas old-stock teas in Kenyan storehouses being pushed into India.

They have also not ruled out the possibility of low-quality teas from other African countries such as Burundi, Malawi, Tanzania, and Ugandan Tanzania reaching India through the Mombasa tea auction centre in Kenya.

“About 119 million kg tea of Kenyan tea has been unsold for a year due to government regulation in that country on the minimum price fixed at auctions.

Moreover, we have reasons to believe Kenya exports teas from neighbouring African countries lesser known for producing the beverage,” Dinesh Bihani, the secretary of the Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers’ Association said.

India surpasses China as largest tea importer from Kenya, raising concerns over quality and impact on local industry.

07/09/2024

8,132 signatures are still needed! A call for Justice and Reform by Amra Tilottama

30/03/2019

Friends, now summer season is almost set in, so we also need to change our food habits and particularly the liquid intake habit. During summer time it is good to opt for cold tea, lemon tea, and any other flavor in cold tea as per our liking and this can be served as welcome drink to our guests at home and visitors to our business premises.This keeps us cool and increases our energy level to work more.This can be good substitute to artificially scented juices available in the market which are nothing but health hazardous.

24/10/2018

Hi

31/05/2018

we cant live without our daily diet of tea but in such a scorching heat sometimes we find it difficult to go for tea, so ICE TEA is substitute for it. Ice tea is a form of cold tea.Though usually served in a glass with ice, it can refer to any tea that has been chilled or cooled. It is a blend of any tea preferably green tea with sugar to taste and flavors like strawberry, lemon, peach, orange etc. any one of these or all of these together will make a fantastic drink, which does both boosts our immunity system and beat the heat.
Normally to make ice tea you shall need to boil water and wait till it gets cool. If you want something quick, use instant ice tea powder. it takes 3/4 minutes of time before the cup is ready to drink in your hand. So why not try it at home instead of going to restaurants and make it a routine diet during summer.

13/03/2018

CHAA KI BAAT
Let us talk tea. As it is in our habit to drink tea and offer it as welcome drink to anybody who visits us ------ is it just a drink or something beyond that?
Medical science has proved it that it is one of the best antioxidant which is must for contemporary life style, where we eat lot of unhealthy food and also the air pollution.
Tea also reduces risk of heart attack and stroke.
It also helps reducing weight as it burns the extra fat.
It also reduces the chances of occurring certain kind of cancer dieses in the body.
And also it gives good smile to our face as it prevents cavities formation thus decreasing tooth loss and like other drinks it does not erode tooth enamel.

02/03/2018

It is festival of Holi today, it is one of the main festivals of Hindus, in which colors are applied on each other's body and we get into a celebration mood and enjoy everything around us forgiving the past. This has its meaning to change of season from winter to spring. But in the spiritual world it has subtle meaning, it says bring your inner child "The soul" out and get drenched into the colors of that Supreme soul and get relieved of all sorrows and sadness of this mortal world and.This is high time to do it, get the season changed in real meaning of it.
So I wish all my friends and business associates a real Happy Holi. Enjoy this world but don't drown in it.

01/02/2018

Tea was first discovered in China, more than 5000 years ago.since then there have been many developments over the years but in India commercial production of tea was started in the year 1840 by a British company known as Assam tea company. With the great efforts of Britishers this drink reached out to the common man India and today the situation has reached to the extent that may it be a cheering celebration or a mourning assembly, or a very hot day or extremely cold weather, a school going child or a aged man, nothing reaches to it's climax without tea. It is high profile drink as well as common man's drink. One can not imagine a morning without a cup of tea.
Although Britishers developed it for their commercial benefit but today it is proving to be a boon of the Britishers to Indian community.....

12/01/2018

With the dawn of new year tea prices in south Indian market have shoot up by 10 to 15% with the good support from export demand.

06/01/2018

total production of tea in current year is down considerably hence the prices in the coming months are expected to shoot up.