According to the provisional figures of the United Planters' Association of Southern India (Upasi), production during December witnessed a drop of around 4.50 mn kg from 19.14 mn kg to 14.74 mn kg. The industry sources had earlier expected the production to be around 200 m kg.

Tamil Nadu, the largest tea producer in South, has reported an output of 124.02 m kg against 121.99 m kg production achieved during 1999. Nilgiris (in TN) increased output to 59.88 m kg (55.81 m kg).

erala, the second largest producer, too has reported an increase to 68.59 m kg (67.21 m kg). Karnataka produced 5.45 m kg for 2000 calendar against 5.42 m kg of the previous calendar.

South's production of 194.62 m kg in 1999 is against North India's production of 604.30 m kg for the same year. However, the South India industry is credited with around 50 per cent of the total Indian tea exports.