India’s tea production declined 54 per cent to 39.02 million kg in April because of the nationwide lockdown to control Covid-19, according to data from the Tea Board. The output had stood at 84.49 million kg in the corresponding month last year.

Out of the total tea production of 39.02 million kg in April, about 33.79 million kg was CTC (crush-tear-curl) variety, 4.74 million kg orthodox variety and 0.49 million kg was green tea. According to provisional data, tea production in Assam fell to 13.21 million kg in April from 44.98 million kg a year ago. In Bengal, the output stood at 9.64 million kg in April against 23.34 million kg in April 2019.

Overall, tea output in north India plunged to 23.91 million kg, from 70.47 million kg in the year-ago month.

However, the production in South India increased to 15.11 million kg, compared with 14.02 million kg a year ago.