Visiting Pakistani delegation urged tea growers to improve the quality of the product shipped from south India to to that country, according to a Hindu report. Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore on Friday, Mohammad Hanif Janoo, Chairman, Pakistan Tea Association said that Pakistan imported 24 million kilograms of tea from India in 2011. What is more, Pakistan is a heavy tea consuming nation and its supply mainly comes from Kenya and East Africa, followed by south India, which constitutes eleven percent of the total tea imports, the official said.
Janoo said that during the last three years, the quantity of tea imported by Pakistan had showed an upward tick, though the average prices had plummetted. "This is apparently not because the market had crashed. There is a downtrend in quality. Therefore, we want good tea from south India", Janoo added.
S Ahmed Khwaja, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tea Association opined that the volume of higher quality tea exported from south India should increase. Endorsing his view, R Ambalavanan, Executive Director of Tea Board added that the Tea Board and the UPASI were working in tandem to improve the quality of tea produced in the region.
