Extreme weather in India’s main tea-producing region has disrupted the annual harvest, while fears are growing over the rising price of the humble cup of tea.
According to India’s Tea Board, the average price of Indian tea leaves is currently £2 per kg, up almost 20 percent from last year. The price has been driven up by heat waves and floods.
The Indian government’s ban on 20 pesticides has further affected production in areas like Assam, which accounts for more than half of the country’s tea production.
Prabhat Bezboruah, a senior planter and former chairman of the Tea Board, said The times: ‘Extreme weather conditions are hurting tea production. Excessive heat in May followed by floods in Assam are reducing production.’
Britons drink an average of 100 million cups of tea a day, or around 36 billion a year, making the country India’s largest tea export destination.
According to India’s Tea Board, the average price of Indian tea leaves currently stands at £2 per kg, up almost 20 percent from last year, due to heatwaves and flooding (Pictured: Indian workers pick tea leaves at the Dhagapur tea estate on the outskirts of the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri)
Britons drink an average of 100 million cups of tea a day, or around 36 billion a year, making the country India’s top tea export destination (file image)
This year, India is expected to export about 100 million kilograms of the product, a seven percent drop from last year’s record production of 1.394 billion kilograms.
Mr Bezboruah predicts that the wholesale price of tea will increase by 16 to 20 percent this year due to the above-mentioned problems, as more than half of the tea leaves in India are harvested between July and October.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of an 80-pack of tea bags in the UK currently stands at £2.64. That’s an 11 percent increase from the previous price of £2.37.
Further price increases will depend on how much of the higher costs manufacturers and retailers are prepared to bear, and the remaining term of supermarkets’ current tea supply contracts.
Heavy monsoon rains caused problems across India, including in cities like Delhi.
Tea production in the country was down more than 30 percent in May compared to the same period last year, as a heat wave made it difficult for pickers to pluck the tea leaves.
That month, in 2024, India produced just 91 million kilograms of tea, the lowest amount in that month in more than a decade.
Besides the Irish and the Turks, the British drink more tea than any other people in the world.
Mr. Bezboruah predicts that the wholesale price of tea will increase by 16 to 20 percent this year due to the above-mentioned problems (Photo: Woman picking tea at Makaibari tea estate, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India)
In recent years, tastes for tea have changed in this country. Consumption of herbal tea has increased, while the popularity of the classic English breakfast has declined.
According to market research agency Kantar, Britons spent more on herbal tea than traditional tea for the first time last year.
Separate research shows that most people, given the choice, would prefer herbal teas.
For lovers of a classic builder’s tea, there is good news: the price of milk is falling.
According to the ONS, the cost of whole milk has fallen by six percent over the past year, but the cost of sugar has risen by eight percent.