>Any comments from any tea
experts?
*** I am no tea expert, or for that matter expert on anything.
But I havbe a few common-sense observations and questions:
At 3:10 PM -0500 10/18/05, Rajen Barua wrote:
I don't know about wine, but TEA may be the only commodity where the price is set by the buyer and not by the seller. This is done through an elaborate system of Tea Testing and Auctioning.
*** That is how the British controlled the market.
But there are far more tea consumers today aside the British.
Should that system continue to rule?
>Incidentally I have heard that
the Guwahati Tea Auction is loosing some of its creditability due to
undue influence made >on the Tea Tester which is apparently not
there in Kolkata Tea Auctioning.
*** Who tests the Tea Testers? Who are they authorized,
accredited and regulated by? Are they self-regulated? If so, are they
reliable? What professional body can we cite in India that are above
UNDUE INFLUENCE? Is the 'apparent' absence of UNDUE influence
over Tea Testers in Kolkata even a barely believable proposition? Or
is it a propaganda, duly being parroted to promote an unspoken
hypothesis ?
>At one time about 50% of the Tea
Gardens (total about 800 in Assam) were owned by
Assamese.
*** Was it during the pre-British or post-British days? Just
curious.
>One of the trick of the
successes of the Marwaries is that they never raise their standard of
living. They take their >business very religiously
and reinvest or save the extra profits.
*** Is it an anthropologically studied and ascertained ethnic
trait, or is it yet another of those assertions proffered to justify
the Marwari cartel?
>I may be wrong in some points
but this is what I have been told and learned from common
sense
*** Do the above sound like sound, common-sense info?
That is why Tea cannot be sold directly. All the world Tea producers follow this system evolved by the British. Even if one tries to sell directly, apparently trying to cut the middle man and make extra profit, they will have to under sell as these TEA will not be Tested and Graded. Incidentally I have heard that the Guwahati Tea Auction is loosing some of its creditability due to undue influence made on the Tea Tester which is apparently not there in Kolkata Tea Auctioning.
At one time about 50% of the Tea Gardens (total about 800 in Assam) were owned by Assamese. When the profits were great they all made lot of money but none could retain the profits and invest in Assam's entrepreneurship. The main problem with Assamese businessmen was that their standards of living go up to consume the extra profits. (Visit Europe by the entire family with servants and all etc). So when the market fell, most Assamese Tea Garden owners had to sell to Marwaries to survive. One of the trick of the successes of the Marwaries is that they never raise their standard of living. They take their business very religiously and reinvest or save the extra profits.
I may be wrong in some points but this is what I have been told and learned from common sense. Any comments from any tea experts?
RB
----- Original Message -----From: umesh sharmaTo: mc mahant ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: [email protected]Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 8:50 PMSubject: Re: [Assam] Fwd: [Assam Society] Mizo farmer's staple food willbebiodieselI wonder why Assamese businessman cannot be expected to start exporting tea directly abroad - just like the MNCs are doing. With foreign returned supporters like you - with contacts everywhere - I think that is a feasable ploy.Why make wine only for the local NE market - when it can be sold across India and abroad (never mind that even in France there is glut of wine which is now being converted into ethanol to be mixed with petrol)Australia is successfully exporting lots of agri products - why not Assam?Umesh
At 9:48
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