India’s Raw Tea Leaf Price Crashes 50% Amid Import Surge and Export Concerns, Hurting Small Growers

The increasing imports of comparatively lower-priced tea from Kenya and Nepal, and uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs impacting export demand from the US have led to the fall of prices of raw tea leaves produced by small tea growers to nearly 50% year-on-year to ₹14 per kg, according to ET.

As a result, retail prices of processed tea, already on a downward spiral, are likely to ease further, industry executives and consumer goods companies Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Tata Consumer Products (TCPL) said recently. Retail price of tea is currently trending 10-15% lower from the levels seen in last July-August period.

The sharp fall in raw tea prices is impacting an estimated 24-million small tea growers in Assam, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, and South India, who grow teas in small parcels of 1-5 acres. These growers contributed 54% to the country’s total tea production in 2024, according to Tea Board of India data as cited by ET.

Rising Imports Pressure Prices

Prices of raw tea have been under pressure since April-May, selling at ₹22 per kg. “Black tea tea imports have shot up as Kenya’s production is more and they exported to India at a lower price, bringing down overall prices,” Bijoy Gopal Chakraborty, president of Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Association (CISTA) told ET.

Citing government data, ET stated that India’s tea imports doubled to 50.14 million kg in FY25 from 25.21 million kg in FY24.

India exported around 17 million kg tea to the US, comprising around 7% of its total tea exports of 255 million kg—the highest in a decade.

Tea prices have also fallen due to over production, Viren Shah, Managing Director at Gujarat-based Jivraj Tea, told ET. “At the retail end, we do not see an immediate recovery in prices,” he said.

India produced 359.32 million kg tea in the first half of 2025, a 4% rise from a year earlier.

Protecting Small Growers

According to another report by ET, Industry bodies like the Indian Tea Association and the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers (CISTA) have urged the West Bengal government to set a Minimum Sustainable Price (MSP) for made tea—indexed to production costs and quality—to protect small tea growers from steep price volatility and ensure fair remuneration.

Representatives of ITA and CISTA met the state industries minister Shashi Panja and labour minister Moloy Ghatak on August 11 to submit a status report on the small tea growers of West Bengal.

The representatives also made some other recommendations during the meeting that include reviewing and simplifying land conversion procedures, implementing a robust crop insurance programme, allocating targeted farm equipment subsidies and arranging low-interest loans or grants for climate-adaptive farm machinery.