Payment row: Tea traders lock horns with auction firm Carritt

KOLKATA: To recover payments of teas that have been routed through Carritt Moran, the world's second largest tea auction firm, the Calcutta Tea Traders Association (CTTA) has decided to meet the Tea Board chairman on Friday to sort out the issue at the earliest. CTTA is a tea industry body which comprises buyers and sellers of teas. Gopal Poddar, chairman of CTTA, told ET: ���A number of sellers, who had sold teas to Carritt Moran, have not got their payments of Sale No 1, which took place on January 5 and 6. They are members of CTTA. In this scenario, we would meet the Tea Board chairman to apprise him of the situation and request him to take some step so that sellers can get their money back."

Incidentally, Carritt Moran has failed to clear 22% of the prompt payment to sellers in sale no. 1. Till Thursday evening, the auction firm has not been able to clear the payment. Prompt payment, in tea parlance, means that a tea broker will have to pay the seller within a specified timeline. Carritt Moran has not been able to clear the payments as it has landed in a financial crunch of Rs 36 crore.

Interestingly, in sale no. 4, which took place on Thursday, a number of sellers have withdrawn teas from Carritt Moran. CTTA officials said that out of the 392 lots of CTC teas that were catalogued by Carritt Moran for sale no 4, some 30 lots were reassigned to Contemporary Pvt Ltd and 61 lots to J. Thomas & Co Ltd. Similarly, out of 106 lots of orthodox teas catalogued by Carritt Moran, 14 lots were assigned to J.Thomas & Co and 3 lots to Contemporary Pvt Ltd. Sellers also reassigned 25 lots of dust teas to Contemporary out of 159 lots catalogued by Carrit Moran. The 64 lots of Darjeeling tea was kept intact by the sellers.

Repeated attempts were made to contact PK Sen, chairman and managing director of Carritt Moran, to get a view of the company's future course of action. However, Mr Sen was not available for comments. Mr Poddar further added that CTTA will also hold a meeting with Carritt Moran and buyers and sellers of teas on Friday to find out ways to sort out the payment crisis. "We will also discuss about the new cash-n-carry system that Tea Board has decided to introduce for the tea industry in Assam, Dooars and Darjeeling," he said.