Though official figures have not been released, the industry, in the form of the Indian Tea Association, reckons that imports have shot up to 15mkg during calendar 1999 from 8.93mkg the previous year.

A leading auction buyer, however, reckons that imports during 1999 were not less than 20mkg. The buyer, requesting anonomity, said that tea is coming not only from Sri Lanka, but also from Bangladesh via land border routes for which there are no data.

From the government's side, the Calcutta-based directorate-general of commercial intelligence & statistics (DGCI&S), which collects nationwide export-import data, does not have a clear picture of the actual imports.Mita Roy Choudhury, director of the export-import department of the DGCI&S, said that they need at least one year to present the final data.

According toprovisional figures given by the DGCI&S at the request of the ITA, total tea imports by India during January to May 1999 added up to 1.45mkg.

The industry considers this figure incomplete and understated. According to a Tea Board survey, about 2mkg of tea was imported during January to August 1999 through just one port of entry, Cochin. The tea industry normally banks on data compiled by the Tea Board, which is run by the commerce ministry.

The ITA also collects data from major ports of entry. According to Tea Board figures, tea imports from April to October 1999 added up to at least 3mkg.The DGCI&S' Roy Choudury brushed aside the industry's criticism and said that all data supplied to the ITA was provisional and incomplete. Final and official figures are compiled only at the year's end. The tea industry reckons that, between January and October 1999, imports topped 5mkg and will touch 15mkg by the end of the year. Against this, India imported 10mkg during 1998. The ITA has decided to seek the Unioncommerce ministry's intervention to dig out the actual import data. The industry's main cause for concern is the impact of the imports on domestic tea prices.

According to market sources, however, the industry should have no cause for alarm on the price front because nearly 80 per cent of the imports were done by multinational companies for blending purposes.

What is worrying the industry is that, although tea production declined during 1999, prices continued to hover at lower levels. The huge import seemed partially responsible for this decline in local tea prices, opined a local trader.

According to ITA estimates, India produced 800mkg of tea during 1999 against 872mkg in 1998 while availability was 836mkg after taking into account 1998's carryforward stock of 21mkg and imports of 15mkg.

Provisional exports figures are, however, showing a decline to 180mkg during 1999 against 210mkg in 1998.