From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: Specialty teas from gardens in the Northeast continue to be in the limelight amid tough times for the industry.
Just about a week after a kilogram of “Golden Butterfly” orthodox tea from the Rossell Tea-owned Dikom Tea Estate sold for Rs 75,000 at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC), a single line of 1.1 kg of “Golden Needles” tea from Donyi Polo Tea Estate of Arunachal Pradesh was knocked down on Wednesday for the same price. The tea was bought by Chattarsingh Narendra Kumar, a city-based buyer for its client, Absolute Tea run by Jayant Jalan.
“We have been buying Donyi Polo Golden Needles and world championship winning tea from Halmari tea estate (in Dibrugarh district) in the past few years. The response has been superb with people loving the teas. We expect a similar response this year as well,” Jalan said. “Our customers are fascinated to drink specialty teas and are eager to know what the industry is producing,” he said.
Satyanjoy Hazarika, managing director (tea) of Contemporary Brokers, the auctioneer, said, “The tea (Donyi Polo Golden Needles) was made from the tips of selected clones by skilled artisans.” Arunachal Pradesh has already made a mark in world map of tea history since it started producing speciality teas and selling them at record prices in GTAC.
“Donyi Polo had set a record year also when their tea was sold for Rs 39,000 per kg. This is again a proud moment for GTAC which is giving a platform to tea producers in Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh for selling their teas at remunerative prices,” Dinesh Bihani, secretary of the Guwahati Tea Auction Buyers Association, said.
The “cheer” to the industry comes at a time when a concerned Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations (CCPA), the apex body of tea planters in India, has appealed to the Centre and Assam for urgent intervention to help offset the “acute distress” in the tea sector.
