Producers unable to meet demand for organic tea

ILAM, Dec 4: With the tea production season coming to a close, the tea entrepreneurs have said they are hard pressed to meet the demand for organic tea in the international market.

Sarad Subba, the proprietor of Jasbire Tea Factory at Ilam Municipality-2, said they have not been able to meet the demand for organic tea abroad. He said only 500 kilograms of green tea leaves are collected at the factory on a daily basis these days as the tea picking season for orthodox tea was coming to a close.

Twenty-five various brands of tea is produced by his factory. The highest production is of the woolen, white and black tea brands. The tea produced at Subba’s factory is exported to China and the European countries.

Subba says the demand for orthodox tea is 1,000 kilograms a day, but he has not been able to meet this demand.

Let alone meeting the demand in the international market, the tea producers have also not been able to meet the demand in the domestic market.
Subba said, “We have been producing tea only as per the demand these days.” Tea produced at Subba’s factory is sold at Rs 800 to Rs 1500 per kilogram. The factory has cultivated tea on 150 ropanis land and it employs 20 people including six males. RSS