Bangladesh, one of South Asia’s significant tea producers, is trying to restructure a sector under pressure. A task force formed in July 2026 proposed 59 recommendations, including recognising tea as an agricultural commodity, reducing VAT, restructuring loans, modernising factories and creating an assistance fund of Tk 2,050 crore.
A monitoring committee chaired by the commerce minister was later set up and held its first meeting on 20 September. According to an analysis published by The Daily Star, the committee stressed that tea gardens should rely less on state support and improve their management and financial sustainability.
The backdrop is difficult: 79 gardens are reportedly in distress, with unpaid contributions and factories unable to operate normally, and this summer workers protested for more than a month for higher wages. The sector employs about 140,000 workers, and the daily cash wage is Tk 196. The author of the analysis, researcher Philip Gain, criticises the fact that workers are not represented on either body.
Source: The Daily Star