Tea Buyers Association has called for efforts to offer maximum quantity of teas through auction system which provides more transparency and better price recovery. Addressing the annual meeting, the association president Dharmendra D.Vora pointed out that there is no alternative to auction system, as it confers many benefits on buyers, growers as well as the government. Buyers have the widest selection of quality, all available at a single point, regular supply guaranteeing delivery, wide array of services at low cost and transparency in tracking purchases by competitors, he said. Producers benefit from maximum exposure of the produce to a wide spectrum of buyers, timely and safe payments, reliable pricing, quality control, benchmarking against others. The government too stands to gain from assured collection of taxes, instant availability of up to date data and infrastructure development creating employment opportunities, he added. COMPARISION The association pointed out that currently an estimated 54 per cent of the tea produced is offered in auction in India against 88 per cent in Mombassa, 91 per cent in Chittagong and 96 per cent in Colombo. The auction in these countries ensures proper price discovery particularly for bulk tea, he said. According to Vora, south Indian gardens participate more in the auction (65 per cent of production) than the north Indian gardens (45 per cent). However, the total volume of the tea handled in three southern auction centres is about 132 million kg out of the total auction sales of 534 million kg in the country. The association also expressed concern over the declining tea production in the country by 30 million kg in the last five years. Simultaneously China’s production increased by 335 million kg, he said adding that the age profile of the country’s tea bushes is also a matter of concern. “We have the highest percentage of tea bushes more than 50 years compared to other tea producing countries, which is younger ranging from 10 to 30 years,” Vora said. Source: thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/article3974734.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy