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Kolkata May 8 The target for the current year's tea exports has been set at 210 million kg (mkg). Last year, India exported 203 mkg of teas, against the target of 200 mkg.

The current year's thrust markets, according to Mr Basudeb Banerjee, Chairman, Tea Board, will be Egypt, Pakistan and Iran. Last year, exports to Egypt were 2.7 mkg, likely to be anything between six to 10 mkg this year. "This will happen because the Egyptian Government's import of Indian teas has opened up," Mr Banerjee said.

Exports to Pak

Indian tea trade, as he pointed out, was bullish about exports to Pakistan, which imported an estimated 15 mkg last year. "We're not setting any target for exports to Pakistan but in medium to long term, the shipments to Pakistan should rise to 20 to 25 mkg," he said. "The recent visit of the Indian tea delegation has been encouraging."

A tea delegation from Pakistan would most probably visit India in July/August. In fact, some of the regional chambers of commerce such as Sarhad Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Peshawar too had shown interest to come to India on its own to explore business opportunities here. Many tea traders in Pakistan were keen to participate in the International Tea Convention to be held in Guwahati in November.

Mr Banerjee said there was a proposal to have India Tea Trade Centre in Pakistan on the line of the centre being planned in Egypt.

Tea exports to Iran last year were of the order of five mkg, likely to rise by another 2.5 to three mkg this year.

Difficult market

The Tea Board Chairman conceded that Iraq, though a major buyer of Indian teas, as much as 42 mkg last year, had proved to be a difficult market for a variety of reasons, most important being the unstable political situation there. The Indian exporters had problems in getting payments for their shipments. However, attempts were being made to circumvent the problems as far as possible, he added.

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