ILAM: With the tea production season coming to a close, tea entrepreneurs have said they are hard pressed to meet the demand for organic tea in the international market.

Sarad Subba, the proprietor of Jasbire Tea Factory at Ilam Municipality-2, said they have not been able to meet the demand for organic tea abroad. He said, “Only 500 kilogrammes of green tea leaves are collected at the factory on a daily basis these days as the tea picking season for orthodox tea was coming to a close.”

25 various brands of tea is produced by his factory. The highest production is of the woollen, white and black tea brands. The tea produced at Subba's factory is exported to China and the European countries.

Subba says the demand for orthodox tea is 1,000 kilogrammes a day, but he has not been able to meet this demand.

Let alone meeting the demand in the international market, the tea producers have also not been able to meet the demand in the domestic market.

Subba said, "We have been producing tea only as per the demand these days."

Tea produced at Subba's factory is sold at Rs 800 to Rs 1500 per kilogramme. The factory has cultivated tea on 150 ropanis land and it employs 20 people including six males.