Public sale-only route for mud tea sale towards govt.’s ease of doing enterprise coverage: NETA

The North East Tea Affiliation mentioned producers needs to be at liberty to promote their produce in no matter method they really feel snug.
| Photograph Credit score: ANI

GUWAHATI

A February 26 gazette notification making it obligatory for producers to promote 100% of their mud teas via public public sale was towards the federal government’s much-vaunted coverage of ease of doing enterprise, a physique of tea planters and producers mentioned in a letter to Commerce and Business Minister Piyush Goyal.

The North East Tea Affiliation (NETA) mentioned producers needs to be at liberty to promote their produce in no matter method they really feel snug as the 2 modes of sale — non-public transactions and public auctions — have been in existence for greater than 150 years and each programs have their benefits and downsides.

“We really feel compelling the producers to promote their produce solely via public auctions will not be in sync with the federal government of India’s coverage of ease of doing enterprise,” NETA chairman Ajay Dhandharia mentioned within the letter on Saturday (November 30, 2024).

Ramaseshan panel’s observations

He referred to the observations of the three-member R. Ramaseshan Committee shaped in December 2023 on public sale reforms for tea. The draft report submitted by the panel on June 28 mentioned, “Non-public tea gross sales present producers with an alternate technique for promoting their teas, providing flexibility, customisation, and direct engagement with patrons.”

The panel mentioned that non-public gross sales involving direct transactions between producers or their brokers and patrons enable for extra personalised negotiations tailor-made to the particular wants and preferences of each events, though such gross sales usually are not topic to the identical laws and oversight as public auctions.

“Whereas they might function outdoors of the structured public sale system, non-public gross sales play a big function within the broader tea market ecosystem, offering further avenues for commerce and commerce,” the Ramaseshan panel mentioned.

The February gazette notification from the Ministry of Commerce additionally mentioned not less than 50% of different grades of tea – orthodox and the granular CTC (crush, tear, and curl) primarily – ought to attain the markets via the public sale route.

Unsold teas

The NETA additionally sought an environment friendly public sale system with an inexpensive promoting time and promoting value to forestall conditions the place massive volumes of tea stay unsold.

“Though Tea Board has been making an attempt to deliver the printing time from 19 days to 17 days, the printing time in sale quantity 48 (held on November 26) on the Guwahati Tea Public sale Centre reached 28 days. In consequence, 40% of the CTC teas remained unsold,”

‘Printing time’ is the interval of sale on the public sale overlaying the arrival of teas at a warehouse to the time it’s prepared on the market within the first try. The unsold teas go for reprinting (second try) however after a number of weeks, which might have an effect on the standard of the teas.

The NETA instructed fixing the minimal variety of luggage for every lot to be auctioned at 20 for producers producing greater than 2.5 lakh kg of tea each year through the peak manufacturing months from June-October or July-October.

Noting with concern that tea exports lowered from 60% within the Nineteen Sixties to 16% in 2023 with the export quantity largely stagnant previously few years, the NETA instructed generic promotion of tea within the home market by “breaking the picture of tea as a traditional widespread man’s drink” and making it fashionable amongst youth.