Tea Production to Fall Marginally: Tea Board.

New Delhi,  (PTI) India''s tea production this year will fall below last year''s tally of 979 million kgs as a result of the large-scale destruction of crops due to excessive rain and pest attack in north India, a top Tea Board official said.

"Country''s overall production will be marginally down this year. But, whether it will go down by 10 million kgs or 20 million kgs is difficult to say now," Tea Board Chairman Basudeb Banerjee told PTI.

Stating that a concrete picture would emerge only later in the month, Banerjee said that overall production would fall as first half''s pace of output growth could not be sustained because of rains and pest attacks in Northern India.

North India, which comprises Assam, produces almost 75 per cent of the country''s total tea production and a fall in the output in that region inevitably impacts the overall production.

South India, which produces the remaining 25 per cent, had steady production till August this year, but bad weather after that has affected output.

The tea output stood at 979 million kg in 2009 against 981 million kg in the previous year.

India''s tea production during July this year fell by 3.8 million kgs at 123.1 million kgs from 126.9 million kgs in the same month last year.

Banerjee said exports might remain at last year''s level of around 200 million kgs.

The Tea Board had earlier said that exports may go up from the country in the range between 5 per cent and 10 per cent during the current fiscal even though the official target was fixed at last year''s level of 200 million kg.

India exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) variety of tea mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the UK and the premium orthodox variety of tea to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

Source : news.in.msn.com