Tea Production, Consumption And Exports In Global And Bangladeshi Perspective

Bangladesh Tea Industry established in 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was inaugurate on the slopes of the hills of Chittagong, where the Chittagong Club in Bangladesh now stands. The first commercial tea garden was established in 1857 in Mulnichera, Sylhet. During the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan) owned 103 tea estates, covering 26,734 hectares of tea plantation with annual production of 18.36 Million kg with a yield of about 639 kgs per ha. Home consumption was around 13.64 Million kg until 1955. Then after, home consumption went up rapidly, and Government imposed 3% mandatory extension of tea area per annum in 1961. Ten years later in 1970, tea area was extended to 42,658 hectares, and production was increased to 31.38 Million kg. During the liberation war in 1971, tea industry suffered colossal damages, which resulted in poor management, high unemployment, insufficient inputs, dilapidated factory machinery, inadequate maintenance, etc. leading to lower yield and poor quality of tea. Besides that, world tea production has been showing an annual increment of 3% while in Bangladesh, the production has increased by 1.84 % and contributes 1.37 in export in the word tea trade and earns near about 1775 million Taka (Taka 69 = USD 1.00) every year. The study aims to picturize the scenario of Bangladesh tea in the context of world tea, export and import and consumption of tea products in different countries of the world.