Assam tea export to Russia may go up

‘‘We know that Assam tea is the best as far as the CTC category is concerned. But our experience with South Indian CTC tea two years back was so terrible that the Russians have stopped consuming any Indian CTC since then,’’ he said.

A leading importer and whole-seller of tea in Russia, Gantsev however, told industry captains in Guwahati last evening that what Assam tea needed in his country was an aggressive campaign that could reassure the Russian consumers that it was indeed the best CTC tea available anywhere in the world.

While the erstwhile USSR was the biggest importer of Assam tea, the industry faced a disaster with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and that too at a time when the Indian Tea Association had set an eye on reaching an annual production of 1000 million kilograms.

With the Soviet Union gone, the 1000-kg target had to be soon abandoned. Gantsev however lamented that India’s tea campaign in Russia was still very poor and invisible, especially in comparison to that of China, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

‘‘We will be glad if an aggressive campaign was launched to promote Indian tea, and more particularly Assam tea in Russia,’’ he told representatives of the tea industry, Tea Board and the Assam government.

He also pointed out that while tea from countries like China, Sri Lanka and Kenya arrived in Russia within 15 days of placing orders, Indian tea consignments would take at least 45 days. Another complaint of Russian buyers is that Indian exporters do not give them a longer credit period, while China and other countries allow even up to 180 days credit.