Tea Festival in Ashgabat

Newspaper News bulletin of President of Turkmenistan19 June 2009, Friday, 12 (256)

Indian tea

Recently presentation of Indian tea was held in Ashgabat. Organizers of this function emphasized that Turkmenistan was attaching greater importance to development of trade relations with countries of the region.

India is one of the counties, which produces most of the tea of the world. This country grows tea on 531 000 hectares of land. 28% of the produced tea in the world belongs to India. In India tea bushes are planted in the states, plains and hills, which have various climatic conditions. And it makes possible to produce several varieties of tea. The fact that tea is harvested 4 times a year helps to produce different varieties of tea. Traditions of manual harvesting of tea in India are strictly followed. Indian tea meets international standards. The high quality of tea in this country is protected by the specially passed Act.   

Specialists note that regular drinking of different kinds of Indian tea has healing effects on cardiovascular diseases, lungs, pancreatic (insular) diabetes, obesity, nerve system and other diseases. Amongst more that 60 kinds of Indian tea particularly Darjeeling tea that is grown on the hills of the Himalayas, Assam tea that is grown in the North-East India and Nilgiri tea that is grown in the Green Hills rich in many springs and rivers are considered to be the most popular.   

India does not grow only black tea but it also produces 10 million kg of green tea a year. During presentation of Indian tea it was mentioned that Turkmen people appreciated much Indian tea. Despite the fact that in recent years Indian tea was forgotten a little bit, tea producers hoped that soon different kinds of Indian tea would come to local markets and it would be much in demand.

Annamyrat Akyev,
Our special correspondent
In photo: Plantation of Indian tea

 

Press Release
 
Tea Festival in Ashgabat and Note on India Tea

The Embassy along with Tea Board of India organized a Tea Festival in Ashgabat on 11 June at Ak Altyn Hotel. As part of the event a seminar was organized, which was attended by app. 120 people including prominent Turkmen businessmen dealing with import, distribution, wholesaling and retailing of Tea. The Union of Enterprise of Turkmenistan also sent 40 businessmen to attend the event. Ambassador of India, H.E. Mohammed Afzal, Director of Tea Board, Embassy of India, Moscow, Dr. Shakil Ahmad and Head of International Business Department, Turkmen Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, Mr.Vepa Garryyev spoke about various aspect of Indian Tea.

The seminar was followed by a tea tasting session. An Indian Businessman and tea taster, Mr. Jalaluddin demonstrated the art of brewing tea and explained the differences among various kinds of tea. 35 varieties of India tea (black, CTC, orthodox, green, flavoured, blended) were showcased during this session.

Eleven tea companies of India had sent samples for product display in the event. They are Premier Tea, Calcutta; Indu Tea, Cochin; M.K. Shah, Russia; Tea Land, Almaty; Gulab Tea, Delhi; Bismillah; Bokel Tea Estate; Khonge Tea Estate; Rosseli Tea Ltd. Mc. Leod Russel, India and Harrison Malaylam Ind Ltd.

Indian tea has come a long way in last 170 years. Now we produce CTC, orthodox as well as green tea. Indian tea is also sold with various flavors of fruits and flowers. Indian famous Darjeeling and Assam tea are still considered to be the best tea in the world.

India produces almost 1000 million KG(1 million ton) of Tea per year, which is little less that the annual tea production of China. Over a million people in India are employed in this sector. After catering to the huge domestic demand for tea, India exports to the tune of 200 million KG of tea per year. Approximately 20% of it is exported to CIS countries.

As on December 2006, India had
1655- Registered Tea manufacturers
2008- Registered Tea exporters
5148 -Registered Tea buyers
9 -Tea auction centres

Total turnover of Indian tea industry is app.US$2 billion.
 
India Tea Industry Intro 


Embassy of India Ashgabat, Turkmenistan