India

Hopes of lasting peace in Darjeeling are high. An historic deal today creates a new administrative region for the Gorkha tribes. Protests, sometimes violent, have been continuing in the region since the 1980s and caused great damage to the tea and tourist industries. Each year, the first flush tea season is troubled by blockades and strikes, at great cost to the plantations.

Gorkhas overjoyed

Screams of delight from the Gorkhas greeted the signing of a 16-page Memorandum of Agreement in the village of Pintail, 380m from Kolkata, on Monday. It brings into being the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. The administration will be in charge of welfare, education, health, public building projects and forests.

Passionate support from Banerjee

The new Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, spoke passionately about the agreement:

Amul, the largest food company in India, is adding a tea brand to its range.

Amul, which already dominates India's food industry with a range of products that includes milk, ice cream, butter, milk shake, margarine and chocolate among many others, is already selling 50 tonnes of tea a month to its milk producers.

McLeod Russell continues its current domination of the tea industry with the purchase of James Finlay Ltd owned company, Rwenzori Tea Investments.

Six tea estates

The Ugandan company and its six tea estates sold for $30 million and is expected to have a turnover of nearly $30 million, $5-7 million of which is estimated as net profit, in 2009.

The six estates produce 15 million kilograms of tea yearly and this is expected to rise as investment in the company's 5 existing tea processing factories and expansion and cultivation of 3,500 ha of land gains momentum in the coming months.

Borelli Tea Holdings

The deal, which came as a surprise to many in the industry, saw McLeod Russell’s subsidiary company, Borelli Tea Holdings Ltd, acquire a 100% stake in the James Finlay Ltd owned company. Of the $30 million paid out for the purchase, $5 million was used to pay existing debt and clear outstanding vendor payments.