The recent flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in north Bengal have caused massive destruction in at least 30-35 tea gardens in Darjeeling, with reports of loss of plantation areas, deaths of workers and damage to houses of labourers, prompting planters to convene a meeting to assess the situation, stakeholders said.
Tea planters and exporters are "extremely worried" over the possible impact on their shipments to Russia, India's second largest buyer of tea, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Western sanctions and disruption of payments in dollars as well as transhipments to Russia are expected as a fall-out of Russia launching an attack on Ukraine on Thursday. "The Russian market for Indian tea is extremely important as there are payment issues for shipments to Iran, another vital tea export destination. "Around 18 per cent of India's tea shipments go to Russia," India Tea Association chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri told PTI.
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