The News – International – Pakistan

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan tea production fell 25.7 per cent in April from a year earlier, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said on Friday, blaming the lingering fallout of a strike last year, drought in low growing areas and high fertiliser prices. Tea output fell to 23.05 million kg, from 31 million kg in April 2006. Output had fallen 16.2 percent in March from the same month a year earlier for the same reasons.

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Hindu – Chennai, India

Karachi: The Pakistan-occupied Kashmir government and three major companies of Pakistan have agreed to cultivate tea worth Rs 150 crore in the occupied area, the biggest-ever investment made in the private sector in the region. As part of the agreement, the PoK government has leased out 3000 acres of land to the concerned companies.

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Forbes – NY, USA

Unilever NV, which owns Lipton teas, said Friday that it will purchase all its teas from sustainable, ethical sources. To achieve this, the company has asked Rainforest Alliance, an international environmental non-governmental organization, to start certifying tea farms in Africa. The nonprofit already certifies coffee, cocoa, bananas and other crops.

Unilever expects to certify all Lipton Yellow Label and PG Tips tea bags sold in Western Europe by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold worldwide by 2015. It said those brands will be the first to contain certified tea. The NGO will begin by certifying Unilever’s tea estate in Kericho, Kenya, followed by other farms in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Indonesia, India, Argentina and Sri Lanka.

Rainforest Alliance’s certification standards require farmers to commit to improvements in worker conditions, farm management and environmental protection. Shares of Unilever slipped 3 cents to finish at $29.71.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi, on Wednesday announced reduction of Value Added Tax for tea from four to one per cent. The reduction had been announced for tea powder, produced both at private and INCOSERVE (tea growers cooperative) tea factories, during first sale or direct procurement at auction centres, an official press release here said. The concession announced for tea farmers and manufacturers would cause a revenue loss of Rs 2.07 crore per annum to the Government, the release added.