Jorhat, the “tea capital” of Assam is scheduled to hold the first International Tea Day special auction on June 21.
The auction would be conducted by mjunction services limited, India’s largest business-to-business e-commerce company at its Jorhat tea e-marketplace, which was launched amid the lockdown in 2020.
The teas on offer at this special e-auction will include only the most premium teas as stipulated by the Tea Board of India to mark the occasion.
Producers have ensured that the tea offered is of premium quality by plucking only “two leaves and a bud” on May 21, which is celebrated as International Tea Day. A “bud” is an unopened leaf.
Vinaya Varma, mjunction’s managing director, said their centre in Jorhat had received some of the best of Assam’s CTC, green and orthodox teas for the debut e-auction. CTC expands to crush, tear and curl, a process of making tea.
The teas have come from estates such as Hookhmal, Muktabari, Aideobari, Rangliting, Narayanpur, Diroibam, Lankashi, Durgapur, Kathonibari, Arin and Pabhojan, mostly the eastern part of Assam.
Buyers from all over India will include premium tea retail chains, high-end tea shops and cafés, packagers who sell luxury or premium tea packs and specialty tea traders, the organisers said.
“The last two years have been tough on the tea industry. All stakeholders, including small growers and small buyers, have been adversely affected due to the pandemic. This initiative will certainly do its bit in lifting the spirits of the industry,” Mr. Varma said.
In about a year, the tea e-marketplace connected with hundreds of sellers and buyers across the country fetched some record prices and received offerings of more than 1.3 million kg of tea from Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Nearly 300 stakeholders, consisting of major tea buyers and sellers are registered in the e-marketplace.
Pan-India operations, ease of doing business, 50% reduction in sales cycle time, rent-free storage, real-time dashboards, the proximity of the centre to tea gardens, sale of FSSAI-compliant teas and fair market price discovery are some of the advantages that have attracted both buyers and sellers to the e-marketplace.
