Coimbatore, Aug 17: India has a tremendous potential to increase its share in tea market of the neighbouring Pakistan. Since other neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia do not have much scope, as they do not produce significant quantities of CTC, India has the vast potential to increase its present three per cent share import to Pakistan, predominantly a CTC market.
Trend in Pakistan import since 1972 indicated an annual compound rate of growth of 5.6 per cent, which was quite high compared to imports or even consumption growth in any producing country, according to a "profile of Pakistan tea market", published in a journal.
Imports to Pakistan reached the peak of 125 million kg in 1993 and thereafter, it had averaged 105 mn kg a year, with 86 mn kg of CTC, 17 mn kg of orthodox and two mn kg of green. Though adequate information about the quality and grade of tea preferred were not available, generally non-RC teas from India could fit in and comparable to medium Kenya teas and south India tea would fit in as good 'reducers' in their tea blends, the journal said.
CTC demand had increased from 23 per cent in 1972 to 82 per cent in 2002, while orthodox had gone down from 77 per cent to 18 per cent, indicating a huge shift towards CTC.
Being the third largest tea importer in the world, Pakistan's import last year stood at 98 mn kg, compared to 164 mn kg by Russia and 138 mn kg by UK, and it would be prudent to assess the demand at 105 mn kg annually, the journal pointed out. In terms of global tea consumption, the country ranked as the sixth largest consumer, with per capita consumption at 800 grams, apart from Russia and UK, the three producing countries viz. India, China and Turkey, consuming more than Pakistan.
Kenya tops the list of suppliers accounting for 68 per cent with 67 mn kg, followed by Indonesia nine per cent with nine mn kg, Sri Lanka four per cent with four mn kg, India, Bangladesh and China three per cent with three mn kg each, the market profile said.
Indian tea import to Pakistan had increased from two per cent in 1992 to three per cent in 2002.
Indian tea import prices, as per 2001 figures, were 1.52 US dollars per kg, compared to 1.93 USD from Sri Lanka, 1.88 USD from Kenya, 0.56 USD from China. Bureau Report