India tea exports drop 16% in the first seven months of 2026

India tea exports fell to 128.56 million kg between January and July 2026, down 16.1% from 153.24 million kg a year earlier, according to provisional figures from the Tea Board of India. Buyers paid a little more per kilo, but not enough to protect earnings.

The value of those shipments dropped 13.8% to Rs 3,908.68 crore (about Rs 39.1 billion), from Rs 4,533.80 crore in the same months of 2025. The average export price rose 2.8% to Rs 304.04 per kg, which narrowed the gap between volume and value without closing it.

Where India tea exports lost ground

Buyers paid more for each kilo of Indian tea, but far fewer kilos made the voyage.

North India, the export zone that includes Assam, shipped 85.20 million kg, 14.1% less than a year earlier, at an almost unchanged Rs 317.86 per kg. South India fell harder: 43.36 million kg, down 19.8%, although its average price climbed 6.6% to Rs 276.88 per kg.

The worst of the damage came early. The board's monthly figures show 55.64 million kg leaving the country in the first quarter, against 69.24 million kg in January to March 2025, and March alone slumped to 14.87 million kg from 24.89 million kg. From April to July the decline eased to 13.2%, with 72.92 million kg shipped.

The Sentinel, the Guwahati daily that reported the figures on 14 September, attributes the fall to the conflict in West Asia and the change of sea route it forced on exporters.

West Asia buyers and the long way round

West Asian countries bought 122.49 million kg of Indian tea in 2025, nearly half of the total, according to figures reported by The Federal in May. The same report described vessels diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, delays of 10 to 20 days and sharply higher freight and insurance costs after disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

"West Asia is critically important for the Indian tea industry," Bidyananda Barkakoty, adviser to the North Eastern Tea Association, told The Federal. Industry bodies have urged exporters to look harder at China, Russia and the United States, a shift the same report said would not be quick.

The comparison base does not help. Final Tea Board figures put 2025 exports at 285.53 million kg, 11.5% above 2024. Tea is not the only export crop being reshaped this season, as Brazil's coffee stocks at a 27-year low show.

The hardest months are still ahead. August and September were the busiest of 2025, at 29.76 and 27.20 million kg, so the next Tea Board releases will show whether the April-to-July easing in India tea exports survives the toughest comparison of the year.