Tea factories in Suryodaya Municipality have stopped operations in protest against the work procedure brought into effect by municipal authorities.

Around 50 factories associated with the Suryodaya Tea Producers Association brought work to a grinding halt saying that green leaves were not supplied to them in line with the standards set forth by the procedures.

Tea producers say that there is no alternative to shutting down operations as they have not received 40 percent of the quality top buds as mandated by the municipality, and the tea they produce will be sold at nominal prices in the Indian market.

The tea producers stopped operations after issuing repeated warnings. Several meetings at the municipality office failed to produce results. According to the association, the municipality did not address their demands despite many requests.

The association has requested the government not to control the market mechanism of the tea sector with price interventions and allow independent price fixing. Stating that the market price of tea was at a 12-year low, the tea producers said they could not purchase tea at the price fixed by the municipality. The work procedure has fixed the price of green tea leaves at Rs40 per kg.

According to tea factories, they are having a hard time running their businesses due to lack of high quality green tea leaves and the low value of Nepali tea in the Indian market. “If the factories are allowed to fix the price of the tea leaves delivered to them, the problem will be resolved,” said a member of the association. “It is impossible to run a factory under the current circumstances.”

Devendra Sharma, chairman of Ward 9 and coordinator of the economic development committee, said that over-reliance of tea producers on the Indian market had led to a similar situation in the past. The municipality has called the tea producers for another round of talks on June 29.

Tea farmers have also suffered losses with factories shutting down during the picking season. They have expressed discontent over the situation and said that no one should add to their burdens. The farmers have asked the municipality to leave the price of tea leaves as it is.