Tea production in India has declined by 12.82% in the first quarter of current calendar year. As per the latest data of Tea Board, the country produced 82.29 million kg (mkg) of tea during January to March against 94.39 mkg in the corresponding period of 2011, down by 12.10 mkg.
There was decline across the region with North India reporting the maximum decline; production totaled 37.52 mkg in the region down by 8.03 mkg from 45.55 mkg. Similarly, output in the largest producing Assam region declined by 7.32 mkg to 19.87 mkg. Darjeeling region reported decline of 1.77 lakh kg to 4.11 lakh kg against 5.88 lakh kg last year. However, there was a marginal increase reported in Cachar region.
In south too, the production reported decline for the period, mainly in the regions of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The overall Southern production declined by 4.07 mkg to 44.77 mkg.