March 12, 2009

  • Kazakstan

    Almaty Food Expo April 2009…

    almaty

    Destiny takes us to central asia now, where oil boom has taken the per capita income to 7500 USD thereby increasing the purchasing power of people who have always been traditional lovers of high quality Assam malty CTC teas.

    CII Director Mr. SK Mishra, my friend, had been there recently and found this out for us and we must try our luck.

     

March 11, 2009

  • Japan

    Japan Foodex 2009…

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    Ankit attended this Chiba exhibition from 3rd to 6th March 2009 from Indian Tea Board’s booth. This was our first exposure to Japan, which we take as refined China, and we learnt a lot of lessons, though we do not expect any business out of this first attendence, like we did with China.

    Japan, Korea, Taiwan & China alongwith Singapore are best maerkets for black tea, which we should cultivate to increase our basket alongwith other white markets. 

    http://cid-08ec579c9c3838f1.skydrive.live.com/play.aspx/Japan%20March%202009?ref=1

     

March 10, 2009

  • India

    2009 & we…

    new car new byke

    Father Jellichi has always been a source of aspiration for us and our new year started with his blessings and we had the opportunity of having a new car for Ankit and a new byke for Vicky.

    Rewards for good working.

     

March 8, 2009

  • India

    New season & Tea Board…

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    2009 has started with a dry spell and ruling high prices because of high demand. Tea Board is bent upon introducing e-auctions and cash & carry system. We made two trips to Calcutta on 9th & 25th February regarding this to meet Chairman, Tea Board and to discuss various aspects. Jairam Ramesh, Commerce Minister and Asok Bhattacharya were involved too in many of these aspects and we involed Suman Pathank and Dawa Narbula to substentiate our greviences, who raised the issue in Parliament. 

    Let us look forward to yet another good year for tea industry.

      

March 3, 2009

  • Korea

    Coffee flavoured tea…

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    Mathew Norick & his girlfriend Alissa Fesser, a Canadian couple, who is presently teaching in North Korea, are travelling in tea areas and recently were in northern Laos to see the wild teas growing there which are processed by local triabals there. No one has ever travelled there or written about it. They covered it on their bolg.

    www.mattchasblog.blogspot.com

    They were with us today and we took them to Goomtte and Giddapahar tea estates and they were very intrigued to see early Darjeeling teas there. The most interesting thing I learnt from them was that in Yunnan, Laos & Vietnam area tea and coffee are grown side by side and the waste materials of coffee processing – like coffee bean skin, flesh and stems are converted into compost and used as manure in tea which in turn gives cooffee flavour to the teas made from these tea plants. Something amazing.

     

February 11, 2009

  • Chile

    Serenedipity…

    angellica  

    Angelica Perez Germain of Santagio, Chile runs National Arts Musuem there and is a creative tea artist. By a chance she met Mr. Madan Tamang in Darjeeling today, who sent her down to us for seeking her help in realising our cherished dream of setting up a tea museum in our area for the spread of tea education in students, growers, manufacturers and consumers.

    www.dibam.cl/bellas_artes2/pre_home.htm

     

February 10, 2009

  • China

    Yuan Xiao Jie kuai le…

    deng jie

    9th February is the last day of the Chinese new year celebrations and it is called Lantern Festival – Deng Jie. This year it coincided with yet another city connection with Suzhou. 

     

February 6, 2009

  • India

    South India trip…

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    Sudden business brought me to Silver Cloud tea estate in Gudalur area of Ooty district of Nilgiri hills in South India and I visited Ooty, Coonoor, Coimbatore, Gudalur and Chennai towns and met Mr. Boby Naik, Mr. Nazeem of Tea Board and my brother in law Mr. Ashok Agarwal, who brought me in tea in 1974. From 3rd to 6th February 2009, it was a whirlwind trip which refreshed me about South Indian tea industry after a gap of 35 year since I was there from 1974 to 76.  

    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090203/jsp/siliguri/story_10477442.jsp 

     

January 24, 2009

  • India

    Recession starts spreading its wings in tea….

    newcarrittlogo

    Auctioneer Carritt in trouble, defaults on payment obligations

    The Tea Board has asked people who have bought tea from Carritt to pay into an escrow account

    Kolkata: Auctioneer Carritt Moran and Co. Pvt. Ltd has failed to pay tea producers who sold through it in the first week of January, in the first such instance in at least three decades.
     
    Carritt—the second largest tea auctioneer in the world—was yet to fulfil payment obligations for Calcutta sale 1 as of Thursday.
     
    Producers have been allowed to withdraw their tea from its catalogue
     
    “The shortfall was around Rs1 crore. That’s about 22% of Carritt’s total dues (for sale 1),” said an official of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association, or CTTA, which organizes the auctions. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
     
    Producers have been allowed to withdraw their tea from its catalogue, said Roshni Sen, deputy chairman of Tea Board of India, the industry regulator.
     
    “The decision was taken on request from sellers,” she said.
     
    Lots from Carritt’s catalogue are being assigned to other brokers ahead of the next auction—Calcutta sale 4—on 27 January.
     
    On Thursday evening, the Tea Board also ordered opening of an escrow account and asked people who have bought tea from Carritt to pay into it. This is aimed at making sure Carritt doesn’t divert money paid by buyers to service its own liabilities, Sen said.
     
    Some people, however, might have already paid their dues to Carritt directly, and the money might have been diverted.
     
    “So on Tuesday (27 January), when payments are to be made for (Calcutta) sale 2, Carritt might default again,” said the CTTA official.
     
    The auctioneer, however, is expected to fulfil its payment obligations for the Siliguri and Guwahati auctions, he added.
     
    Carritt, a 131-year-old auctioneer, has been lending to small and medium tea growers, mostly in south India, for many years.
     
    The auctioneer had borrowed from private financiers to lend to tea producers. But many of these loans have not been repaid, and according to Carritt’s chairman P.K. Sen, the company was to receive around Rs36 crore from tea producers.
     
    Carritt’s own liabilities are believed to be in excess of Rs50 crore, and even after setting off “all assets on its books, there’s a Rs30 crore gap,” said a tea industry official close to the Carritt management, on condition of anonymity.
     
    Carritt’s Sen was not available to comment. Calls made to his cellphone were not answered.
    Lending to tea producers was the only way to expand business during lean years, said the industry official.
     
    “A broker typically lends against yet-to-be ready crop, and makes sure the crop is sold through it,” he explained. “Almost all brokers had got into that business, but Carritt is suffering because of bad cash management.”
     
    Tea Board’s Sen said: “There were big management deficiencies in Carritt. We are trying our best to salvage the company, but it might have to be closed down.”
     
    Carritt, which sells tea worth around Rs1,000 crore a year and earns 1% of that by way of commission, would never be able to pay off its liabilities with income from auctions, she added.
     
    The Economic Times newspaper first reported in its Kolkata edition on Friday that Carritt was facing a financial crisis.
     
    Even before Carritt collapsed, the Tea Board had asked management consultant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd to examine if there were systemic risks and suggest measures to improve the tea auction system.
     
    Deloitte is expected to submit its report in eight weeks, according to Roshni Sen.
     
    “It is unfortunate that a company of such history and class (as Carritt) has come to this state. But I continue to have full faith in the auction system, and the measures adopted by the tea board will strengthen the system and make it more secure,” said Aditya Khaitan, managing director of McLeod Russel India Ltd, the world’s biggest tea company.
     
     

January 22, 2009

  • Germany

    Felicitation of Gerd Muller…

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    Legendary footballer FC Bayern Munchen II, was falicitated by CII today evening at 6.30 pm in Savin Kingdom, where Sri Asok Bhattacharjee, Minister, was present alongwith all of us. In the day at 2.00 pm a show match was organised between their team and our Mayor Eleven. We also collected 3.92 lac rupees from the auction of signed playgear from the team, which shall be donated for the betterment of games.

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    http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090122/jsp/siliguri/story_10422501.jsp