According to chairman of the board NK Das, the region offers great potential for export of tea and has been identified as one of the major thrust areas for developing and increasing India's total tea exports, both in bulk and value added form. The 20 countries in the Wana region account for 27 per cent of the total world tea imports and have an average consumption of 1,400 gms a person in a year. The major importers in the region include Egypt, the UAE, Morocco and Iran.

India's exports towards the region fell sharply from a high of 57.49 million kg in 1998 to 33.90 million kg in '99. Though the region comprises tea producing countries like Iran, Turkey and Sudan, the Wana region imported 294 million kg of tea in '99. ``We have been contend with the Russian market. Now the time has come for us to diversify into other areas. The decline in export to the Wana region is not too alarming but we need to study these countries closely and develop suitable strategies to improve our market share,'' Das said while inaugurating a workshop on `Tea export to the Wana region' here on Monday.

The tea board is holding similar workshops to elicit the views of the tea industry for evolving strategies to promote Indian tea in the region considering factors like consumer preferences, price factors, product and packaging requirements and distribution channels. At present the promotional activities in the region are taken care of by the Tea Board's Dubai office.Exports to the region, Das said, for the current calendar year has shown an improvement to 11.85 million kg during the January-May period against 9.44 million kg exported during the corresponding period a year back.

According to director (promotion-Dubai) Gauri S Trivedi the export to the region would require Indian exporter to provide good quality tea and adherence to regulations with respect to health. The UAE, she said, is a good market for re-exports and Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia require green teas.On tea exports to the Wana region, Lakshmanan of Tata Tea said Sri Lanka cornered a 33 per cent share in the region through aggressive generic promotion and pushing packet teas. Kenya stands next with a share of 20 per cent followed by China with a 19 per cent share and fourth is India with a share of 11 per cent in the region.

India's brand equity, he said, has eroded. Hence, generic promotion needs to be aggressively stepped up. The Comesa trade bloc preferences for countries of African origin has restricted Indian tea exports to the largest market of Egypt. Moreover, poor packaging of Indian tea and lack of online information on tea exports have hampered growth of exports. The increase in oil prices would help economies of many in the Wana region improve thereby increasing demand, he said and added that Syria, Jordan and Turkey should be specifically targeted by the Indian exporters.

Lakshmanan sought adequate incentives in the form of reduced import duties on packaging materials and machineries. Tea Board, he said, should urge the government to increase exports through bilateral agreements.Meanwhile, tea exports from the country, for the first five months of the current calendar year, stood at 61.70 million kg against 59.67 million kg shipped during the corresponding period in 1999. Tea exports, after clocking a record high of 210.30 million kg in 1998, was lower at 190.20 million kg in 1999.

The Board chairman hoped exports would reach the target of 225 million kg for the current calendar year.