Tea

India's tea exports to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, including Russia, is bound to be affected due to the ongoing war. India's total tea exports to CIS countries, including Russia is usually in a range of 58-65 million kilogram, Jalan said. On rising input costs for the industry, he said AgriTech in the form of drone technology for field monitoring and pesticides spraying, usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning in developing smart harvesters assume importance.

Tea production is a high-cost business, with 60-65 per cent of the input costs going into labour wages. The rest goes for coal, gas, fertiliser, and other machinery. The rise in tea costs was led by the pandemic-led disruptions in the plucking activities initially. The leaves mature if they are left on the shrubs for too long, leading to deterioration in the quality of tea.