Bangladesh’s tea industry is under strain, and the government has launched a broad restructuring effort. A task force set up in July 2026 put forward 59 recommendations, from classifying tea as an agricultural commodity and cutting VAT to rescheduling loans, upgrading factories and creating a Tk 2,050-crore assistance fund. A committee chaired by the commerce minister now oversees the process and held its first meeting on 20 September.
According to figures cited in The Daily Star, 79 tea gardens are in distress, with unpaid provident fund contributions, cut-off utilities and factories unable to run normally. The sector employs around 102,000 permanent and 40,000 temporary workers. Over the summer, workers protested for more than a month, demanding a daily wage of Tk 500 — the current cash wage is Tk 196.
The piece’s author, researcher Philip Gain, argues that reforms will struggle unless the people who actually pluck the leaves have a seat at the table. Bangladesh is a notable black tea producer, so how this plays out matters for the wider regional market.
Source: The Daily Star