Lockdown impact: Tea production down 54 per cent in April

While tea output in North India had plunged, it has increased in the south

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India's tea production declined 54 per cent to 39.02 million kg in April due to the nationwide lockdown to control COVID-19, according to data from the Tea Board.

The output had stood at 84.49 million kg in the corresponding month last year.

Out of the total tea production of 39.02 million kg in April, about 33.79 million kg were CTC (crush-tear-curl) variety, 4.74 million kg orthodox variety and 0.49 million kg were green tea.

According to the provisional data, tea production in Assam fell to 13.21 million kg in April from 44.98 million kg a year ago.

In West Bengal, tea output stood at 9.64 million kg in April as against 23.34 million kg in April 2019.

Overall, tea output in north India plunged to 23.91 million kg, from 70.47 million kg in the year-ago month.

However, the production in South India increased to 15.11 million kg, compared with 14.02 million kg a year ago.