The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1943-01-15
Tea Is Assured !.
For Next Year
i65, 600, 600 Pounds May Be
Allc Gated to u. s. From
Available Ctops.

WASHINGTON maximum Of
IS million pounds Of tea viii be
made available to the United States
during 1913 under terms Of an agree
ment concluded between the. British
and United States governments. it
was announced by Benjamin Wood.
managing director Of the tea !bu-
reau.
Mr.. Wood explained that this was
80 per cent more than the estimated
consumption under the conservation
order of March q but approximate
ly IS per cent less than consump-
ton in this country in 194l.
The agreement, known officially
as the British-American tea alloca-
ton plan, has been under negotia-
ton for several months, Mr.. Wood
said. 1t provides for the purchase
of the entire tea crop of India and
Ceylon by the British ministry Of
food, which in turn will allocate
tea to various members of the Unit
ed Nations.
Depends on Shipping.
This MEANS" Mr.. Wood said,
that if shipping from India and
Ceylon continues to hold up as it
has during the last year, there wiz
no longer be any uncertainty over
sufficient tea being available for the
armed services and for present re-
stricted United States civilian de-
mand during 1943."
Major points agreed upon, he said.
were presented to the tea industry
advisory committee, which met
few days ago in Washington. He
explained that the British ministry
of food is the sole buyer of ali
India and Ceylon tea and that the,
commodity credit corporation is the
sole purchaser of all tea allocated
to the United States, warehousing
the tea and selling to the United
States tea trade at out-of-Warehouse
prices.
Although it is impossible to pre-
dict what turn the war will take In
respect to India and Ceylon, the tea
situation at present is extremely
promising" Mr.. Wood said. 'If the
War Production board can supply
shipping space, this new agreemcn
is going to provide us with plenty o.
tea under present restrictions, which
limit sales of tea to so per cent OF
former volume"
100 Million Pounds Normal.
AS of September 80, preliminary
estimate of the tea bureaus third
quarterly survey of tea stocks
showed, he declared, that there is
now sufficient tea on hand for seven
months supply under the present
tea conservation order restrictions.
"In normal times" Mr.. Wood
said, ''the United States consumed
approximately 100 million pounds of
tea a year. And so far the tea con-
servation order has worked out to
within a fraction of its objective,
which has been to cut sales of tea
approximately in half"
Up to September 80 approximate;
ly 43 million pounds of tea had been
landed in the United States, with
an unknown amount now afloat and
en- route to United States ports, Mr..
Wood said. The IS million pounds
which this country will receive un-
der the new agreement will be for
the year beginning April l. 1913.
Maximum shipments scheduled for
the first quarter of l943 are placed
at 1920, 900 pounds, with approxi-
mately three million pounds ear
marked for the United States armed
forces. ~ 4
Mr.. Wood declared the new agree.
ment also provided for the United
States being permitted to purchase
an additional ii million pounds, over
and above that landed up to Sep
tember 80 and that now afioat, dur
ing the balance of 1912.