Panchagarh tea auction centre starts journey

The country's third tea auction centre in Panchagarh witnessed its first day of activity as a daylong online auction was held at the Panchagarh Chamber of Commerce and Industries' auditorium on Wednesday.

Bangladesh's first tea auction centre was set up in Chattogram in 1949 before a second was inaugurated in Sreemangal in 2017.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi formally inaugurated the tea auction centre in Panchagarh on September 2 this year.

Major General Md Ashraful Islam, chairman of Bangladesh Tea Board, observed proceedings, which were conducted by the Small Tea Garden Owners and Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh.

Three brokers and 25 bidders took part in the day-long auction.

A total of 113,000 kilogrammes of processed tea, produced by different tea factories in the northern region, were on offer.

Of the amount, 86,508 kgs were sold at an average rate of Tk 132.48 per kg.

MM Tea Estate fetched the highest price of Tk 212 per kg while Moli Tea Industry got the lowest price of Tk 102 per kg, said Amir Hossain, tea development officer of Bangladesh Tea Board, Panchagarh.

In a meeting on September 14, the Tea Sales Coordination Committee scheduled 12 online tea auctions in Panchagarh, with the next one to be held on October 18.

At least 12,079 acres of land is dedicated to tea cultivation across Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Dinajpur in the Rangpur division.

Last year, about 1.78 crore kgs of processed tea, worth Tk 260 crore, was produced from plain land tea gardens, which accounted for 19 percent of the nation's total tea cultivation, according to the local office of the tea board.

Tea cultivation in the flatlands of Panchagarh commenced in the late 1990s after effective government directives that sought to make the most of favourable weather and soil conditions.

It soon expanded to other districts in the region.

In the last two decades, the northern regions have emerged as the second-largest tea cultivating hub in the nation, behind Sylhet but ahead of Chattogram.

A total of 26 tea processing factories operate in the region, 25 in Panchagarh and one in Thakurgaon, according to sources from the tea board.

52 companies have been granted approval to set up processing factories.