Power crisis pushes Sylhet tea industry to the brink
The tea industry in Sylhet is facing a serious production crisis as prolonged power outages and low gas pressure disrupt processing at factories during the peak harvesting season.
Freshly plucked green leaves are piling up as factories struggle to operate essential machinery. Frequent load shedding is interrupting withering, cutting, rolling and sorting, while inadequate gas pressure is hampering the crucial drying process.
The disruption has triggered concern among tea garden owners, workers and industry stakeholders in Sylhet, Moulvibazar and Habiganj, who fear that prolonged shortages could damage tea quality, reduce production and cause substantial financial losses.
July and August are the peak months for tea production. Industry insiders say uninterrupted electricity and gas supplies are particularly important during this period because freshly plucked leaves must be processed within a specific timeframe to maintain quality.
A source at the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Sylhet, speaking to The New Nation on condition of anonymity, said Jalalabad Gas authorities had initially announced that gas supplies to industrial units would be suspended indefinitely.
Jalalabad Gas authorities later said the disruption was caused by a temporary problem in unloading liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to rough seas.
Although gas supplies have since resumed, the pressure remains inadequate for smooth factory operations, according to industry sources.
The electricity situation is also worsening. Factories in the Gotatikar area of Sylhet BSCIC experienced seven to eight episodes of load shedding on Saturday.
Tea factory workers said they are currently facing around 10 to 12 hours of power outages every day.
Raju Goala, president of the Valley of Tea Workers of Sylhet, said factories were experiencing seven to eight load-shedding incidents on average each day.
“Once a machine stops, it takes 30 to 40 minutes to restart. The low gas pressure is also affecting the drying process. As a result, the quality of tea is deteriorating,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands depend on tea sector The crisis has implications far beyond the factories themselves.
According to the Bangladesh Tea Board, Sylhet division has 135 tea gardens-19 in Sylhet, 91 in Moulvibazar and 25 in Habiganj.
Not all tea gardens have their own processing facilities. Green leaves from several gardens are often transported to larger central factories for processing, meaning disruption at a factory can affect production across several plantations.
There are around 70 to 80 registered and active tea-processing factories in the Sylhet region.
More than 100,000 permanent and temporary workers depend directly on tea gardens and factories for their livelihoods, while around 500,000 people are associated with the sector directly or indirectly.
Industry stakeholders fear that continued disruption could therefore affect a large number of workers and families at a time when the sector is already under pressure.
Production target at risk
The Bangladesh Tea Board has set a national production target of 104 million kilogrammes of tea for 2026.
Stakeholders fear that the target could become difficult to achieve if the power and gas crisis continues through the peak production months.
They said interruptions at different stages of processing can affect both the quantity and quality of tea. Repeated shutdowns also increase production costs because machinery has to be restarted frequently, while delays in processing freshly harvested leaves can reduce the quality of the final product.
Tea industry representatives said a temporary improvement in gas supply would not be enough if electricity shortages continue.
They have called for special arrangements to ensure uninterrupted electricity and adequate gas pressure for tea gardens and processing factories during the peak season.
They warned that failure to ensure reliable energy supplies could result in major losses this season and cause longer-term damage to Sylhet’s tea industry, one of the country’s key agricultural sectors.
