ASSAM-Just One Point


expanding their involvement in East Africa. India supplied 50 per cent of Britain's imports in 1964; by 1977 the share had declined to 35 per cent, with Kenyan supplies already overtaking Sri Lanka's. In these circumstances, common action by tea producers is going to be very difficult to achieve. Talks towards an international agreement on stabilising tea prices have now moved from FAO to UNCTAD, with the next round of meetings being scheduled for November, but prospects are not very hopeful. There is solid resistance from the USA to proposals for a diversification fund, and none of the consuming countries are happy for tea talks to be involved in the Common Fund negotiations. It looks as though the 1977 rise in tea prices was merely a hiccup in their long-run decline.