Assam tea feels the heat: Export woes, geopolitical shocks and a brewing domestic crisis
The geopolitical crisis of the West Asia has dealt a fresh blow to Assam's tea exports, exposing the industry's overdependence on select markets.;

In another twist to the fluctuating fortunes of Assam Tea, the West Asia crisis is impacting the industry adversely by way of disruption in exports. The situation is likely to trigger a demand-supply imbalance in the domestic market as well. Besides Iran, the overall West Asian market, which also comprises Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, accounts for some 90 million kg of Indian tea, comprising about 35% of total tea exports.
A majority of orthodox teas are exported, with Iran being one of its major destinations. Trade routes and payment settlements have been disrupted by the crisis, leading to stalled shipments and uncertainty. Tea exporters have already felt the pinch, as premium orthodox tea shipments worth over Rs 150 crore have been impacted.
Significantly, about 9 percent of Assam's total tea yield is of the orthodox variety, which is exported with West Asia being a major destination. The developments also threaten to undo India's achievement of a significant milestone in the global tea industry last year, when it had surpassed Sri Lanka to become the world's second-largest exporter of tea in 2024.
The country exported an impressive 255 million kg of tea in 2024, marking a substantial growth of 10 percent in its export figures.
The situation also warrants a rethink of our export strategies. A comparison with Sri Lanka shows that while Assam's exports are facing difficulties, Sri Lanka, another major orthodox tea exporter to Iran, does not seem to be experiencing the same level of market decline, potentially due to different export strategies.
The Assam tea industry is worried about the potential for further losses and is calling for government intervention to mitigate the negative impacts. The current situation exemplifies the vulnerability of the industry to geopolitical events and the need for diversification of export markets. Another concern that has added to the challenges of the industry in recent times happens to be the rising influx of inferior-quality tea into India.
What the industry needs is the imposition of a protocol of stringent checks to regulate imports. A disturbing fallout of the development has been that a sizable portion of these cheap duty-free imported teas is also finding its way into the Indian domestic market and sold as produced in India, thereby crippling the prices of Indian teas in the domestic market.
There is logic in the Indian Tea Association's demand for fixing a minimum import price of tea to stop the influx of cheap-quality teas into India and the imposition of quantitative restrictions on the import of tea into India and anti-dumping duty.