Productions, Consumptions and Exports of Tea in Different Timeline in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is a small tea producing country with large potential. Tea is
a major agro based labour intensive and export-oriented industry of
Bangladesh. This study is an attempt to examine the existing
production, consumption and export of tea. Bangladesh Tea Industry
established at 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was established on the
slopes of the hills in Chittagong where the Chittagong Club now stands.
The first commercial tea garden was established in 1857 in Mulnichera,
Sylhet. During the liberation war in 1971, tea industry suffered colossal
damages, which resulted in poor management, high unemployment,
insufficient inputs, dilapidated factory machinery, inadequate
maintenance, etc. leading to lower yield and poor quality of tea.
Bangladesh owned 129 tea estates and 38 tea garden, covering
53210.07ha of tea plantation out of 113112.42 ha with annual
production of 82.13 M kg in 2018.Tea is a legend export item. The tea
industry of Bangladesh not only provides a huge amount of foreign
currency, but also provides a lot of employment. Tea is one of the most
important non-alcoholic beverage drinks worldwide and has
gained further popularity as an important ‘health drink’ in view of its
purported medicinal value. Tea consumption was around 90.45Mkg in
2018. Bangladesh exports 0.65 M kg in the word tea trade and earns
near about 203.93 M Tk. from 2018.The Bangladesh tea industry is one
of the major sources of income for the national exporters. At present,
this industry is facing a multitude of problems. Lack of capital and
modern machinery, limitation of total land use, lower market values of
tea in comparison to increasing production cost, lower yield per hectare
are some of the problems forcing back the tea entrepreneurs. Besides
that, domestic consumption of tea has steadily increased. In the face of
rising domestic consumption, a stable level of tea export can be
maintained only by a sustained increase in tea production.

Full text

Productions, Consumptions and Exports of Tea in Different
Timeline in Bangladesh
Sahjahan Ali1, Md. Golam Rabbani1, Shaheen Rahman2, Israt Jahan3 and Habibur
Rahman4
1Dept of Soil Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh
2Dept of Agricultural Extension Education, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100,
Bangladesh
3Dept of Agricultural Chemistry, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh
4Dept of Crop Botany and Tea Production Technology, Sylhet Agricultural University,
Sylhet-3100, Bangladesh
A R T I C L E I N F O
A B S T R A C T
Bangladesh is a small tea producing country with large potential. Tea is
a major agro based labour intensive and export-oriented industry of
Bangladesh. This study is an attempt to examine the existing
production, consumption and export of tea. Bangladesh Tea Industry
established at 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was established on the
slopes of the hills in Chittagong where the Chittagong Club now stands.
The first commercial tea garden was established in 1857 in Mulnichera,
Sylhet. During the liberation war in 1971, tea industry suffered colossal
damages, which resulted in poor management, high unemployment,
insufficient inputs, dilapidated factory machinery, inadequate
maintenance, etc. leading to lower yield and poor quality of tea.
Bangladesh owned 129 tea estates and 38 tea garden, covering
53210.07ha of tea plantation out of 113112.42 ha with annual
production of 82.13 M kg in 2018.Tea is a legend export item. The tea
industry of Bangladesh not only provides a huge amount of foreign
currency, but also provides a lot of employment. Tea is one of the most
important non-alcoholic beverage drinks worldwide and has
gained further popularity as an important ‘health drink’ in view of its
purported medicinal value. Tea consumption was around 90.45Mkg in
2018. Bangladesh exports 0.65 M kg in the word tea trade and earns
near about 203.93 M Tk. from 2018.The Bangladesh tea industry is one
of the major sources of income for the national exporters. At present,
this industry is facing a multitude of problems. Lack of capital and
modern machinery, limitation of total land use, lower market values of
tea in comparison to increasing production cost, lower yield per hectare
are some of the problems forcing back the tea entrepreneurs. Besides
that, domestic consumption of tea has steadily increased. In the face of
rising domestic consumption, a stable level of tea export can be
maintained only by a sustained increase in tea production.
Article History
Received
03 July 2020
Received in revised form
21 July 2020
Accepted
05 October 2020
Available online
11 October 2020
K E Y W O R D S
Tea, Production of tea,
Export, Bangladesh
Corresponding author: Md. Golam Rabbani, Department of Soil Science, Sylhet Agricultural
University, Sylhet, Email: rabbani1572@gmail.com
Research Article
ISSN 1011-3916
Volume 32, 2020
Special Issue
BANGLADESH JOURNAL OF EXTENSION EDUCATION
Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural Extension Society (BAES)

160
Ali et al.
Introduction
Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) belongs to the family Theaceae. It is the oldest non-alcoholic
caffeine-containing beverage in the world. The original home or ‘the primary center of
origin’ of tea was South-East Asia i.e. at the point of intersection between the 29% N
(latitude) and 98% E (longitude) near the source of the Irrawaddy river at the confluence of
North-East India, North Burma, South-West China and Tibet provinces (Wight, 1959). Tea
thrives well within the latitudinal ranges between 45% N to 34% S, cutting across about 52
countries (Sana, 1989). The Chinese were the first to use tea as medicinal drink, later as
beverage and have been doing so for the past 3000 years (Eden, 1958). The cultivated taxa
comprise of three main natural hybrids. They are-
1) Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze or China type,
2) Camellia assamica (Masters) or Assam type, and
3) Camellia assamica sub spplasiocalyx (Planchon ex Watt.) or Cambod or Southern
type.
Tea is an evergreen, perennial, cross-pollinated plant and grows naturally as tall as 15 m.
However, under cultivated condition, the bush height of 60-100 cm is maintained for
harvesting the tender leaves for even more than 100 years. The flowers are white in colour
and grow singly or in pairs at the axils. The fruits are green in color with 2-3 seeds. The leaf
is the main criterion by which the three types of tea are classified as follows-
 Assam type: biggest leaves,
 China type: smallest leaves, and
 Cambod: intermediate leaves.
Tea is a major agro-based, labour intensive and export-oriented industry of Bangladesh. It
plays a very vital role in the national economy through export earning, trade balancing and as
well as in employment generation. It produces 2% of world production and exports 3% of
world export. It is providing direct employment to about 0.11 million ethnic minority people,
50% of whom are women and their civic needs and amenities are provided by the industry
free of cost along with about 0.4 million dependents of the permanent workers. Furthermore,
another 0.6 million people are also dependent on tea in its export, packing, broking and local
trade, supporting factories and workshops chest manufacturing and transport industry etc. It
gives 200 million taka as interest against production and development loan from the tea
industry (BTB, 1998).
Tea is a very important cash crop of Bangladesh. A large number of tea estates have been
established in Bangladesh depending on the tea as raw material. But processing and
marketing system of tea are subdued by manifold problems, which always hamper the
interest of tea producers. A wide range of variations was observed in yield, costs and returns
among different types of tea estates (Hossain, 1976). In Bangladesh, there is thus dire need to
focus attention on improvements in the manufacturing sector covering quality of tea, its
productivity, and cost of production as well as the marketing system. In Bangladesh, there is

Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education, Volume 32: 2020 (Special Issue)
161
thus dire need to focus attention on improvements in the manufacturing sector covering
quality of tea, its productivity, cost of production as well as the marketing system (Islam et
al., 2005). The study aims to pictures the scenario of Bangladesh tea in the context of world
tea, export and import scenario of tea.
Methodology
The study covered the production, consumption and export of tea in Bangladesh. Most of the
data have been collected from secondary sources. The secondary information is collected
from books, Annual report, Tea Market procedures, Tea exports, Bangladesh Tea Board,
Web portal, Bangladesh Tea Research Institute, Food and Agricultural Organization etc. have
been reviewed by the researchers. In the process of analyses of collected data, various
statistical tools like averages, percentages, tables, and diagrams applied in order to make the
study worthier, informative, and helped to fulfill the objectives of the study.
Result and Discussion
Tea estates area in Bangladesh
Tea Industry established in 1840 when a pioneer tea garden was inaugurate on the slopes of
the hills of Chittagong, where the Chittagong Club in Bangladesh. The first commercial tea
garden was established in 1857 in Mulnichera, Sylhet. Bangladesh owned 129 tea estates and
38 tea garden, covering 53210.07ha of tea plantation out of 113112.42 ha. Tea cultivation in
Bangladesh is spread over the hilly zones on the eastern part mainly in four districts (Sylhet,
Moulvibazar, Habibgonj and Chittagong). About 96% annual production of which 63% is
contributed by Moulvibazar district. This results supported by Nasir and Shamsuddoha, 2011;
Islam et al., 2005; BBS, 2017.
Table 1 Land use pattern for tea industries in Bangladesh
Source: http://www.btri.gov.bd
District
Tea area
Grant area
(ha)
Tea area
(ha)
Land use for tea
production(%)
Estates (No)
Garden (No)
Moulvibazar
76
15
63208.64
30,995.93
48
Habiganj
22
3
21919.46
11,606.51
53
Sylhet
12
7
11710.11
5269.55
45
Chittagong
18
3
13986.12
4,048.77
27
Rangamati
1
1
321.70
146.00
48
Thakurgaon
0
1
16.50
29.95
48
Panchagarh
0
8
1949.89
1113.36
58
Total
129
38
113112.42
53210.07
47

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Ali et al.
Tea production in Bangladesh
The average yield of Bangladesh tea has moved from 622 kg ha-1 in 1947 to 1587 kg ha-1in
2016. In 1947 the annual production was 18.88 M kg whereas in 2016 the production reached
to 85.05 M kg (Table 2).The production reached at 85.05 M kg in 2016 which was 67.38 M
kg in 2015 and the rate of increase was 26.22 percent. The extra ordinary favorable
environment especially the rainfall along with the proper cultural practices and the hard work
of the planters might be the reasons behind this sudden improved productivity. Similar results
observed by BTB, 2016; Islam et al., 2005.
Table 2 Development trends of area, production and average yield of tea industry in
Bangladesh
Year
Area
(ha)
Increase/
Decrease*
Production
(M kg)
Increase/
Decrease*
Yield
(kg ha-1)
Increase/
Decrease*
1947
30353
0
18.88
0
622
0
1957
31287
+ 934
25.54
+ 0.66
817
+ 195
1970
42688
+ 11401
31.38
+ 0.58
735
- 82
1980
43732
+ 1044
40.03
+ 0.86
916
+ 181
1992
47781
+ 4049
48.93
+ 0.88
1040
+ 124
2000
48735
+954
55.83
+ 0.68
1145
+ 105
2010
55000
+1000
60.04
+0.05
1224
+129
2011
56846
+1846
59.13
-0.91
1203
-21
2012
57210
+364
62.52
+3.39
1252
+49
2013
58719
+1509
66.26
+3.74
1320
+68
2014
59609
+890
63.88
-2.38
1230
-90
2015
60179
+570
67.38
+3.50
1270
+40
2016
62500
+2321
85.05
+17.67
1587
+317
Source: http://www.teaboard.gov.bd&http://www.btri.gov.bd
Tea consumption and tea export in Bangladesh
Bangladesh continues to lose edge in tea exports because of increasing domestic consumption
that takes up around 90 percent of annual production (Table 3). Total domestic consumption
is around 90.45M kg in 2018. Export of Bangladesh tea in the year 2018 was 0.65 M kg than
the previous year export of 2.56 M kg. Export earning was 203.93MTk. in 2018. But
Bangladesh could not utilize that quota fully as increasing internal demand pushes the price
levels up in the local auction and discourages exports. BER(2015) and Saha(2010) found
similar results.

Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education, Volume 32: 2020 (Special Issue)
163
Table 3 Tea consumption and export in Bangladesh
Source: http://www.teaboard.gov.bd&http://www.btri.gov.bd
Conclusion
Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world population. These analyses are helping us
to depict the real pictures of tea demands, productions and exports. Export market is
gradually decreased last two years on the other hand consumption of tea is also gradually
increased. There is thus dire need to focus attention on improvements in the manufacturing
sector covering quality of tea, its productivity, and cost of production as well as the
marketing system. There are so many issues relating to tea industry needs to get attention by
the appropriate researcher to dig out the problems for the ultimate solutions.
Years
Total Production
(M kg)
Tea consumption
(M kg)
Tea export
(M kg)
Tea export
(M Tk.)
2001
53.15
36.95
12.92
894.99
2002
53.62
41.50
13.65
939.93
2003
58.30
37.44
12.18
915.07
2004
56.00
43.33
13.11
934.04
2005
60.14
43.30
9.01
742.62
2006
53.41
40.51
4.79
469.59
2007
58.19
46.27
10.56
899.01
2008
58.66
52.12
8.39
976.95
2009
59.99
53.74
3.16
433.50
2010
60.04
57.63
0.91
176.68
2011
59.13
58.50
1.48
213.51
2012
62.52
61.19
1.56
222.28
2013
66.26
64.00
0.54
133.04
2014
63.88
67.17
2.66
281.72
2015
67.38
77.57
0.54
105.13
2016
85.05
81.64
0.62
140.56
2017
78.95
85.93
2.56
377.29
2018
82.13
90.45
0.65
203.93

164
Ali et al.
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