Sipping tea may turn costlier with increase in Aavin milk price

CHENNAI: Be prepared to pay more for your tea. The new rate for a cup of tea is pipped to increase by another 2, thanks to the hike in milk prices from November 1.
A regular cup of tea is now priced at 7 and special tea is being sold for 10. The milk prices have hit family budgets; similarly tea shop owners feel that it is going to hit their business.The impact will be more if private milk producers also hike the price.
However T Anandan, secretary of Chennai Metropolitan Tea shop Owners Association, has cautioned his members against hiking prices and urged them to cater to the needs of customers by supplying them quality products. But majority of the shops are not affiliated to the association. So it is up to the shop owner to decide on the price.
S Amudha who runs a tea shop on C P Ramasamy road said, “Recently milk price went up marginally but we did not increase the price of tea. But now, as the milk price has been hiked by 10 we will have to pass it on to the customers’’.
The 15,000 tea stalls in Chennai are an integral part of life in the city. The cost of running a tea shop though it employs skeletal staff—a tea master, and one or two boys to serve customers—has gone up over the years. Rents and material costs are high and it is tough to get employees.
Anandan said, “Over the years, getting employees has become difficult. We have started to hire people from north eastern states, Gujarat, Bihar and Nepal because they are ready to work for long hours.”
According to Anandan, about 5,215 shop owners are registered with the association.