CHATTOGRAM, June 04: The National Tea Day was observed on Sunday with the slogan- "Cha Dibosh-er Songkolpo, Somriddho Cha Shilpo (A prosperous tea industry is the pledge of Tea Day)".
June 4 is marked as the National Tea Day to commemorate Bangabandhu's contribution to the tea industry and make the date of his joining in the Tea Board memorable.
However, the tea gardens of Bangladesh produced a total of 90.38 million kgs of tea in last year 2022, which is 0.276 million kgs less than the previous year.
In 2021, around 90.656 million kgs of tea were produced in the country, which was a record amount production. But, the production was decreased in 2022 due to the strike of workers and unfavourable weather condition. Moreover, the cost of tea production has increased.
Tea production was 96.07 million kgs in 2019 and 86.39 million kgs in 2020, said Bangladesh Tea Board (BTB) sources.
According to the owners of tea gardens, the production cost of tea has been increasing day by day. However, the auction rate of tea is not increasing compared to the increased production cost.
The production cost of per KG tea was Tk 200.35 in 2022. The production cost of per KG tea was Tk 197.34 in 2021. It was Tk 173.56 in 2020, Tk 193.40 in 2019, Tk 161.02 in 2018, Tk 198.73 in 2017.
According to the BTB officials, tea is currently exported to 23 countries from Bangladesh, including the US, UK, France, China, Japan, India and Switzerland. There are a total of 168 tea gardens in Bangladesh. Of these, 136 tea gardens are in greater Sylhet, 21 in Chattogram, eight in Panchagarh, two in Rangamati and one in Thakurgaon.
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