Last Updated : 26 May 2009 at 11:00 IST

Tea e-auction hits a roadblock in two centres

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Commodity Online
KOCHI: The e-auction of Tea has hit a stumbling block in two centres in the country due to opposition from traders and technical glitches. In Kochi, the tea traders have gone to court arguing that the system is not fully geared up for 100 percent e-auctioning of the commodity

With the stoppage of e-auction for the past three weeks, it is estimated that 45 lakh kilos of tea is lying unsold at Kochi. In response to a petition filed in High Court, Tea Board said that it is in favour of 100 percent e-auctioning of tea while Tea Trade Association has said that it would be better to implement the system in stages initially putting 25% of the trade in electronic format and the rest through open outcry system.
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E-auctioning of North Indian teas was formally launched in Kolkata in November last year. However, the teething troubles for the new electronic system is not yet over. Meanwhile, last year’s tea season came to an end and this year’s season began. In Kolkatta due to technical glitches there was a mismatch between the lot numbers in the electronic platform and the manual system, creating confusion among the participants, sources said.

E-auctioning in Coimbatore and Konoor for South Indian tea is proceeding smoothly so far. Tea Board hopes to solve the technical glitches soon in Kolkatta and start regular electronic trading. They said that fine tuning of the system is being done in Kolkatta, Siliguri and Guwahati.

It looks like the manual system cannot be dispensed with in many of the tea auction centres and it will have to be retained as standby.

In Kochi it is estimated that over 17 lakh kilos of tea come for auction every week—auction for dust tea is held on Tuesday and leaf tea is held on Wednesday. The plantation sector is hit by the unsold stock while traders who export and also sell in the domestic market are unable to get the commodity due to the problems in e-auctioning. With the onset of monsoon, traders fear that tea may lose quality on storage.