JHAPA: Nepali tea manufacturers have announced they will shut down all 56 tea factories in Ilam and 30 in Jhapa starting from tomorrow (Monday) after India disrupted tea exports for the past month and a half under the pretext of quality testing.

The Tea Board of India’s strict and non-transparent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has left over 200,000 kilograms of processed tea stranded in Indian warehouses and more than 1 million kilograms at risk of rotting inside Nepali factories.

This impending closure directly threatens 100,000 workers and 30,000 farmer households who rely heavily on India, which buys 90% of Nepal’s tea.

Blaming the Nepal government for failing to take diplomatic action, frustrated industrialists, farmers, and workers are planning phased protests alongside the shutdown, including blocking the Kakarbhitta border to stop Indian imports.

While Nepal exported tea worth Rs 4.59 billion last year, the current deadlock—compounded by delayed lab reports and impractical rules threatening the destruction of tea—has forced factories to announce closures as they can no longer afford to pay farmers for their green leaves.