MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ( SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY )
(a) to (d): Libya is not a stable market for Indian tea. Export of tea to Libya during the last five years were as follows:-
Year Quantity in m.kgs.
1996 0.05
1997 1.65
1998 6.98
1999 Nil
2000 3.63
Indian Embassy, Tripoli in the month of August 2000 informed about supply of
un-satisfactory quality of tea to Libyan National Supply Corporation (NASCO) by an Indian Exporter.
Tea Board initially obtained views of the Indian exporter on the allegation of supply of sub-standard tea and subsequently issued show cause notice to the exporter for suspension/cancellation of tea Exporter Licence granted under Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order 1957. The Indian exporter has been advised by the Tea Board to sort out the problem directly with NASCO. Follow up action on this is also being closely monitored by the Department of Commerce, Tea Board and our Embassy at Tripoli. To avoid recurrence of such disputes, the Government and Tea Board have introduced a Voluntary Scheme for the firms of importing countries desiring to have quality checks through agencies appointed by the Tea Board.
