{
  "id": 6281925,
  "title": "Russian energy ties seen fuelling demand for Indian orthodox teas",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/russian-energy-ties-seen-fuelling-demand-for-indian-orthodox-teas",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-08T13:27:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hindu BusinessLine",
    "slug": "hindu-businessline",
    "url": "https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/russian-energy-ties-seen-fuelling-demand-for-indian-orthodox-teas/article71441954.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The deepening energy relationship between Russia and India could indirectly boost demand for Indian orthodox teas, according to industry stakeholders. Russia remains a significant market for Indian tea, with premium orthodox varieties demonstrating stronger resilience compared to the broader Russian market, according to Anil George Joseph, president of the Tea Trade Association of Cochin. In the fiscal year 2025-26, India exported approximately 31.32 million kilograms of tea to Russia, making it the third-largest destination by volume after the UAE and Iraq.\n\nHowever, exports to Russia weakened during the first eight months of 2025, declining by around 23 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Despite this decline, Joseph noted that the performance of orthodox tea has been considerably better than the overall Russian import trend. Bilateral trade between the two nations has become heavily skewed towards Russia due to India's increased crude-oil purchases. While trade reached around $70 billion in 2024, driven largely by Russian oil exports to India, India's exports to Russia have remained comparatively small.\n\nThe improved payments mechanism, with 96 percent of bilateral trade now settled through rupee-rouble mechanisms, could facilitate easier purchases for Russian importers. This could indirectly support Indian orthodox tea exports. Both Russia and India have expressed a policy objective to increase exports to each other, creating considerable scope for Russia to use its accumulated rupee liquidity to purchase Indian goods.\n\nPremium orthodox varieties in India are well-positioned to benefit from this changing trend, according to Joseph. The increasing demand for quality, competitive pricing, and an improving India-Russia payments framework suggests that orthodox teas could gain traction in the Russian market. However, market fundamentals ultimately determine tea demand, and Russian consumers and blenders still require tea. Indian orthodox varieties remain competitive in terms of quality and price, according to Joseph. Russian buyers, particularly those in South India, find orthodox teas attractive and are willing to pay a premium.",
  "summary": "In FY26 (April 2025–March 2026), India exported around 31.32 million kg of tea to Russia, making it the country’s third-largest destination by volume after the UAE and Iraq",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}