Tea exports to Pakistan to take a hit post-Pulwama terror attack; exporters say business secondary

Enraged by the killings of CRPF soldiers by a Pakistan based terror outfit in Jammu and Kashmir Thursday, major tea exporters said they stood by the government and business has now become secondary. “We are not even thinking of trading with Pakistan now. We stand firmly behind the government and waiting for what the government is going to do”, chairman of India Tea Exporters Association (ITEA) Angshuman Kanoria said. [caption id=“attachment_2532026” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Following the terror attack at Pulwama that left 40 CRPF personnel dead, India has withdrawn the most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. “Exports to the neighbouring nation may reduce,” Vivek Goenka, chairman of Indian Tea Association, said to Economic Times. “What is more important is to protect our country from this sort of ghastly terror attacks.” He said the industry will look for other destinations like Egypt, Middle East and Russia to export Indian tea, Gopal Poddar, one of the leading tea exporters to Pakistan, said, “We are not bothered about business now. Commerce is secondary now,” he told PTI. Tea exports to Pakistan Tea exports to Pakistan grew marginally in 2018 to 15.83 million kilograms from 14.73 million kilograms in 2017. Exports of tea to Pakistan during the first 10 months of 2018 rose 22 percent to 13.07 million kg as compared to 10.65 million kg in the corresponding period of 2017, the Tea Board said on Monday. Major country-wise exports from January to October stood at 200.38 million kg as against 198.86 million kg a year ago, as per provisional estimates released by the board. Iran was the highest importer of Indian tea at 23.04 million kg during the reporting period, topping the year-earlier figure of 22.13 million kg. However, there was a slight fall in exports to CIS nations at 51.07 million kg from 52.72 million kg in the similar period of 2017. In value terms, India exported tea worth Rs 4,061.81 crore during the first 10 months of the year, compared to Rs 3,911.05 crore in the corresponding period of 2017, according to the Tea Board release. The unit price per kg during January to October was lower at $2.99 as against $3.03 a year ago. --With PTI inputs