Govt to take initiatives to boost tea exports: Tipu

Govt to take initiatives to boost tea exports: Tipu

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said that the tea production in Bangladesh was 60 million kg in 2009, which increased to 97.51 million kg in 2021, but the product was not exported much, so the government has decided to take steps to increase its export.
“There is a huge global demand for our tea, but it is not exported due to an increase in local demand and lack of export incentives. So, we have taken steps to export it after meeting the country’s demand,” he told a program organized in the city marking the National Tea Day on Saturday.
Tipu said, “We have started producing tea in the country’s northern region, where 14.55 million kg of tea was produced in 2021. The government will assist traders in all areas including innovating new varieties of tea, increasing production, auctioning, and marketing”.
This will increase the country’s tea production and enable us to export it after meeting the local demand, he added.
Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmad, who was the special guest at the programme, said, “Tea is one of our most important cash crops and once tea was the second most exported product.”
National Tea Day is being celebrated for the second time in the country this year.
Md Jasim Uddin, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Omar Hannan, president of Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh, and M Shah Alam, president of Bangladeshiyo Cha Sangsad, addressed the function presided over by Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary of the ministry.