By Admin 
Amidst the increasing dispute between Nepal and India, the Nepal government has decided to reopen its tea factories. This dispute that started with India affected the entire tea industry of Nepal and the work almost came to a standstill. Although tea factories have now reopened after strong assurance from the Nepalese government, there is tension in the trade relations between the two countries due to India’s strict rules.
Actually, FSSAI of India had issued a new instruction on 23 June. Under this, risk based checking system was implemented for tea coming under HSN code 0902. According to the new rule, 20 percent of the consignment of tea coming to India for domestic consumption will be randomly selected for lab testing with immediate effect.
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Big blow to Nepalese tea industry
After this decision, Nepali tea industry suffered a big blow. Nepali tea exporters are facing long delays at the Indian border as tea consignments have been stopped for lab testing, reports Kathmandu Post. According to people associated with the industry, about 3 lakh kilograms of processed tea is stuck in the warehouses of India, while more than 10 lakh kilograms of tea has been stored in Nepal. Due to these disruptions, tea processors in Ilam had closed their factories from June 15. After this, the producers of Jhapa decided to stop work on June 18. Due to this decision of India, about 99 tea factories in eastern Nepal were affected and work stopped in more than 50 small and big tea gardens. Due to this, tea harvesting was also affected and thousands of workers became unemployed.
How did the tea controversy start?
After receiving assurance from the Prime Minister’s Office and Council of Ministers of Nepal that the government will immediately take diplomatic and administrative steps to remove the obstruction in exports. On this the factory owners have agreed to start work again. The tea controversy started with the new rules of the Tea Board of India. Under this rule, mandatory lab testing of every tea consignment coming from Nepal to India is being done. Earlier, India used to test only 5 to 20 percent random samples and if one truck passed, the entire consignment would be approved, but now samples are being taken from every truck parked at the border and sent to the central lab in Kolkata for testing.
There is no internationally recognized lab in Nepal
At present there is no internationally recognized lab in Nepal. In such a situation, it is taking 15 to 20 days for the report to come from Kolkata. During this time, the tea lying in trucks and warehouses started spoiling. For this reason, about 13 lakh kg of Nepali tea was stuck at the border. The impact of this strictness of India was very serious on Nepal. More than 100 tea factories and estates in Jhapa and Ilam districts of eastern Nepal are on the verge of closure. Due to this, the livelihood of about 60,000 daily wage laborers was in danger. The price of tea leaves also fell from Rs 40 to Rs 60 per kg to around Rs 15 per kg, due to which farmers started incurring losses worth crores of rupees daily.
Complaint of Indian tea producers
Indian tea producers complain that cheap and poor quality tea was being brought from Nepal and mixed with India’s premium Darjeeling tea. Due to this the international image of the Indian brand was getting tarnished. Apart from this, there were also complaints about high quantity of pesticides and chemicals in Nepali tea.
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