Amid the extended lockdown, auctions resumed on Thursday at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre (GTAC), the largest tea auction centre in the country.
The 13th auction, which was put on hold about three weeks ago, was held today, GTAC officials confirmed.
The auction resumed on a highly optimistic note, the officials said. There has been severe scarcity of tea among buyers during the last few days.
Around 0.6 million kg of tea was offered for sale on Thursday in Guwahati, sources said.
“We are happy that tea auction resumed in Guwahati today,” a senior tea executive said.
The three tea auction centres in South India — Cochin, Connoor and Coimbatore started auctions last week.
However, tea auction centres in Kolkata and Siliguri are yet to finalise the date to resume tea auctions.
Of about 600 million kgs of tea sold via auctions in India, Guwahati has the largest share at 34 per cent, followed by Kolkata auction centre at 27 per cent and Siliguri has 23 per cent of the total sale.
And about 16 per cent of tea is sold at the three auction centres in south India.