Kolkata : The West Bengal government, along with all stakeholders, is planning to work out a strategy to strengthen the brand of Darjeeling Tea so that producers can fetch better value for the crop, an official said on Saturday.A

“We will work closely with the stakeholders to device a strategy to promote Darjeeling Tea brand. Details are being worked out,” West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Managing Director Vandana Yadav said at a CII organised summit here.

According to her, the state government officials had a discussion with the stakeholders at the Hill Summit on how to further improve the branding of Darjeeling Tea.

“It should not be perceived as a bulk commodity and should be considered as a niche product. Darjeeling Tea is popular in key markets like Europe, US, Japan.

“If we can increase the brand value, we are hopeful that the tea industry will be getting higher premium,” she said.

Darjeeling tea, which enjoys the coveted GI tag and is preferred by tea connoisseurs across the world, had faced a crisis in the wake of a political shutdown in 2017 that lasted for 104 days.

A section of the Darjeeling tea planters had apprehended due to non-availability of Darjeeling tea, the buyers who have been sourcing it, might switchover to others varieties and tea from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya might make a breakthrough into the market.

However, other section of planters was hopeful that GI tag would be saviour to the industry.

—IANS