India's tea exports climbed 13.4 percent in November to 17.47 million kg, the state-run Tea Board said on Friday, as demand picked up from traditional buyers in the Middle East. The world's second-biggest producer after China exports CTC (crush, tear, curl) variety of tea mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, and premium orthodox variety to Iraq, Iran and Russia.
"In December also exports were higher because of winter," said a senior official at one tea brokerage in the eastern city of Kolkata. Still, exports in the first 11 months of 2011 was down 6.2 percent at 167.4 million kg due to payments problems with Iran and unrest in the Middle-East in the first half of the year.
Sales to Iran were hit after India's central bank ended in December 2010 a long-standing payments mechanism for trade under US pressure. India and Iran took seven months to find an alternative route using Turkey's Halkbank. India's tea output in November fell 3.8 percent on year to 90.3 million kg, the Tea Board said, while total production in the first 11 months of 2011 rose 3.2 percent to 937.5 million kg.
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