Kamal Mainali, member in the executive board of HSTP, said tea lovers in the international market of late have started to prefer Nepali white tea produced in high altitude over Chinese productions, which otherwise was considered popular tea in the European market. [break]
“Consumers in Europe and America are readily drinking our tea. Our importer based in Germany has been consistently pushing us to up our supplies,” Mainali told myrepublica.com.
Given the rosy business prospect that has emerged of late, Mainali said the company was taking all possible steps to increase productions.
As a part of jacking up productions, HSTP has offered five-fold rise prices to the farmers who supply raw tea leaves to it.
“Other factories are hardly paying Rs 25 per kg of leaves. However, HSTP has started paying us Rs 125 per kg for the leaves of same quantity,” said Jivan Rai, a farmer of Sankhejung.
Last year also, the company had bought leaves paying Rs 110 per kg.
“The demand has soared rapidly and we can make handsome income if we effectively tap this potential,” Mainali said, elaborating reasons for such a generous transfer of monetary benefits to the farmers.
White tea is produced from young leaves and buds, whereas other leaves are produced from older leaves and buds. It is processed in such a way that it does not possess grassy taste like green tea.
Unlike other orthodox tea which is produced from two leaves and a bud, green tea is produced from just one leaf and bud. Because of this, the company says the bushes yield new leaves more rapidly and create better opportunities for the farmers to earn more.
In a bid to maintain quality, the company has also issued a code of conduct for the farmers while taking care of the bushes. If the farmers adhered to it, the company says they will be able to produce high quality leaves, something which is very necessary to retain the international market and continue the growth.
“Europe and the US have tight provisions on chemical and pesticide residue. If we failed to comply, we will instantly lose our market. Hence, we have introduced a code of conduct to maintain our quality,” said RC Mainali, manager of the company.
Presently, some 900 tea farmers of Sankhejung, Shanti Danda, Puwa Majhuwa and Mangalbare village development committees are involved in organic tea production to supply to the company.
HSTP has been producing and exporting white tea for the last three years. It had exported 2,000 kg of white tea to the European and US market in 2009.
“The demand is much higher than what we managed to export,” said Mainali, attributing low volume of exports to its failure to secure quality and pesticide free leaves.
HSTP has recently expanded its white tea processing plant, investing fresh capital of Rs 5.41 million. Commercial Agricultural Alliance had pledged financial assistance of Rs 1.47 million to the company for expansion.
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