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July 6, 2001
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Money > Reuters > Report July 6, 2001 |
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Indian tea industry eyes Pakistani marketIndia, the world's biggest tea producer, is hoping to grab a larger slice of the huge Pakistani tea market after next week's summit between the two estranged neighbours. "We're hopeful that, if the summit goes off well, tea can become a predominant aspect of commerce between the two countries," R S Jhawar, chairman of the Indian Tea Association, said on Friday. Industry officials said they saw enormous potential because India supplied just three million-kg of tea to Pakistan last year while the annual demand was over 120-million kg. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf are to meet on July 14-16 in the first summit between the two nuclear-capable countries in more than two years. The main aim of the summit is to defuse tensions over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, over which the two countries have fought two of their three wars, but trade and other issues are expected to come up for discussion. Industry officials said they did not expect Pakistani business to oppose Indian tea imports if political problems were resolved because Pakistan was a major tea-importing nation with little domestic production. More than half of Pakistan's tea demand is met by Kenya, which exported 64-million kg to Pakistan in 1999. Officials say India is in a position to increase its share of the Pakistani market because it produces the CTC variety of tea which most Pakistanis consume and can supply the leaf at a cheaper price due to lower freight costs. In 2000, India produced 823 million kg of tea and exported 201-million kg. In February this year, the Pakistan Tea Association signed a pact with the ITA to import between 7-10-million kg of tea from India in 2001. A PTA team is scheduled to visit India in August to meet tea industry officials. The state-run Tea Board, which regulates and promotes Indian tea, has thrown its weight behind the export push. "Pakistan is a very important market. We look forward to interacting with the Pakistani tea industry to see how to increase trade," Tea Board Chairman Naba Kumar Das said.
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