Due to Russia’s unprovoked threats to undergo a landgrab of neighboring country Ukraine, tea planters and exporters are “extremely worried about the impact on shipments to Russia, according to a report in The India Nation. Russia is the second largest buyer of tea from India. The result of Western sanctions on Russia would disrupt payments in US$ and also transshipments.
“The Russian market for Indian tea is extremely important as there are payment issues for shipments to Iran, another vital tea export destination,” India Tea Association chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri told PTI as reported in the New India Express. “Around 18% of India's tea shipments go to Russia."
“There will surely be economic consequences for tea exports in the near term,” said an ITA spokesperson, citing the immediately problem of the crash of the Russian ruble against the US$ dropping up to 15% last week alone. ITA says that although Ukraine is not a big export market for India, “Russia and Kazakhstan are the main markets in the overall exports to CIS countries".
Economy Next reports that Sri Lanka’s tea industry is also worried about the developments in the Russia/Ukraine situation