Guwahati tea planters pin hopes on e-auctions
Published August 11th, 2007
As large tea companies rework their strategies to stop Kenya from making inroads into their export markets, local planters are lobbying with Delhi for a revamped e-auction system that will give them access to more buyers.
The system of e-auction never really took off and was scrapped despite Rs 20 crore being spent on it.
Local planters have now decided to constitute a committee to prepare a list of recommendations for the proposed revival of the e-auctioning system.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070811/asp/northeast/story_8172439.asp
The Guwahati Tea Auction Centre has only 229 registered buyers, of whom 140 are buyers of CTC leaf, 80 deal in CTC dust and the rest in the orthodox variety.
The decision to form a panel to frame a set of recommendations was taken during a meeting of the Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA), Bharatiya Chah Parishad and the North East Tea Association in Dibrugarh on Tuesday.
The chairman of the ATPA, Raj Baruah, said “indigenous” planters were losing out on business for want of an efficient auctioning system at the Guwahati auction. His predecessor in the association, Prabhat Bezbaruah, echoed him.
“We are up against some tough challenges and we need to plan properly, especially our marketing strategies,” the former chairman said.
Only about 50 per cent of the tea produced in the state is marketed through the auction centre.
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