The 80-kilometer Teknaf Marine Drive to Cox’s Bazar along the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh is the world’s longest marine drive. Photo credit: Adobe Stock.
Anxious tea traders in Bangladesh have signaled a return to normal after weeks of deadly protests.
On Aug. 5, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country, defusing deadly protests in Dhaka that began in June and led to the deaths of an estimated 500 people, mainly students. A peaceful transition of power is underway, with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus named interim head of a transitional Bangladesh government.
Md. Shaidur Rahman, managing director at Indigo Brokers Ltd., writes that he was relieved to see a new government has been formed in Bangladesh. He explains, "Tea in Bangladesh is not just an industry; it is a culture. So, everyone takes care to prevent any political party from entering the tea industry.”
Bangladesh Tea Board Chairman Maj. General Ashraful Islam exercised a strong and steady hand during the most significant political crisis since independence.
Gen. Islam, a civil engineer, has chaired the board since July 2021, a period of growth during which the country’s tea production finally met the long-pursued goal of exceeding domestic demand. Bangladesh harvested 103 million kilos last year, surpassing the estimated 95 million kilos consumed. The board hopes to harvest 108 million kilos.
The government set an ambitious export earnings target of $72 billion for goods and $10 billion for services in FY2024. Goods, including tea, totaled $52 billion through May, according to the Export Promotions Bureau (EPB). Earnings in the services sector were $5 billion, nearly 30% less than the government’s target.
Now that the country’s growers have exceeded production targets, Gen. Islam told the Dhaka Tribune “improving the quality of tea is necessary if exports are to be competitive globally.”
Tea exports grew 33% to 1 million kilos through May. Bangladesh has registered 168 large estates and estimates 8,000 smallholder tea gardens. Export destinations number 14 countries. The United States and the United Arab Emirates are the top two destinations, importing about $1 million each, followed by Kuwait, Pakistan, and Italy. Exports totaled 780,000 kilos and were valued at $1.14 million in 2023, down 57% in value compared to the previous year. Bangladesh’s tea exports were valued at $2.73 million in 2022, according to State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu.
Rahman said “Bangladesh has exported more tea in this financial year than in the last five years. Everyone wants to work in the tea industry and keep this trend going. Hopefully, the old market in the outer world will come back.”
Bangladesh ranked 66th by value among the world’s tea exporters in 2023. The country imported only small quantities of mainly black CTC from Kenya, the UK, China, and Sri Lanka in 2023.