India's May tea output rises 18.4pc y/y

MUMBAI: India's tea production in May rose 18.4 percent from a year ago to 121.33 million kg as plucking jumped in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the state-run Tea Board said in a statement.

Tamil Nadu produced 18.75 million kg tea in the month, up 96 percent from a year ago, it said. In the top tea producing north-eastern state of Assam, output rose 6.7 percent to 61.75 million kg.

India, the world's second-biggest tea producer, exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the UK, and the orthodox variety to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

Ethnic unrest in India's Darjeeling hills has wiped out the harvest of the world's most expensive tea, disrupting supplies to European buyers and potentially pushing prices higher.