The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The country's tea exports has increased by about 121 per cent to 10.6 million kg in 2007 due to higher yields and improved quality, official sources said yesterday.

Lower production in China and higher prices in India also contributed to higher exports from Bangladesh, exporter said.

Production in the year (2007) was 57.96 million kg, despite repeated floods and a severe cyclone, against 53.41 million kg in the previous year.

Exports fell to 4.8 million kg in 2006 from 9.0 million kg the previous year (2005), when production was 60.14 million kg.

"There is no complacence (about) the export jump last year, because we need to export at least half of our production, as we did in the past," said Mohammad Idris, an executive of a leading tea-exporting house.

Domestic buyers are the key players at the country's sole auction centre in Chittagong, where registered brokers through a weekly sale distribute the entire produce.

"Bangladesh tea export is falling, while domestic demand is increasing," said auctioneer Rafaay Nizam.

The country exported a record 34.4 million kg in 1982, against an output of 40.9 million kg. But since then, exports have been falling although yields have been rising.

The average price of Bangladesh tea rose 2.44 per cent to 101.42 taka (US $1.48) per kg on higher demand at the auction on Tuesday, brokers said.

Buyers for Pakistan and Bangladesh participated in the auction, said the National Brokers Ltd, the largest tea broker in the country.

The country was losing its tea export markets because local producers were not putting enough effort into producing export-quality teas, another exporter said.

"We are (trying) to bring more land for tea cultivation, so that we can get some surplus for export after meeting local demands," a senior official of Bangladesh Tea Board said. The country now plants tea on some 53,000 hectares (132,500 acres) of land.

Leading importers of the country's tea, included Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Afgha-nistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.