Indian tea exports jumped 25 percent to 37.14 million kg in the first quarter of 2004 because of renewed demand from Iraq and a jump in sales to Pakistan, industry officials said on Wednesday.
India, the world's largest tea producer, is recovering from a difficult period last year when exports dropped 18 percent to 164.8 million kg largely due to the collapse of the key Iraq market following the US-led war.
"This year there is no war in Iraq. Shipments are going and demand for Indian tea is picking up," said Sujit Patro, deputy secretary of the Indian Tea Association (ITA), the country's largest planters' body.
Producers, mainly in south India, have received orders from Iraq for eight million kg of cheaper orthodox tea in the past two months, the United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) said.
The orders were routed through the United Nations World Food Programme and the interim Iraqi administration, officials said.
In 2002, India's exports to Iraq soared three-fold to 44 million kg under the UN food-for-oil programme, but plummeted last year to 12.69 million kg due to the war.
Indian exporters are also looking to Pakistan to further push exports this year as relations between the nuclear rivals have improved with a cautious peace process.
Last year, Indian tea exports to Pakistan soared 73 percent to 6.4 million kg over 2002 and India's tea exporting community says the figure could touch 15 million kg this year.
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