Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh Tea Board Chairman Major General Md Ashraful Islam said, there is no alternative to fully launching online tea auction system to make the tea auction and tea marketing activities of the country more dynamic.
The chairman said this while addressing a meeting with the representatives of Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh (TTAB) and tea brokers after inspecting the auction activities at Chattogram Auction Center on Monday morning.
He added it is time to implement the online tea auction as part of building a digital Bangladesh of the present government. TTAB needs to take immediate action in this regard. This will allow buyers to purchase tea at home. Garden owners can also find out about the price of tea during the auction.
Emphasizing the importance of launching online tea auction system in Covid situation, the Tea Board Chairman said that online tea auction has already been launched experimentally. We want the full online tea auction to start soon. He said TTAB would be given all possible assistance for the necessary technical assistance, training and infrastructure development.
At the time, he also called upon all stakeholders to focus on PQP (Production-Quality-Price) to develop the tea industry as a whole.
Omar Hannan, President of TTAB, said in the meeting that as per the instructions of the Tea Board, online auction activities have already been started at the Chattogram Auction Center by TTAB on a trial basis. Work is underway to launch a full-fledged online tea auction and TTAB continues to liaise closely with the Bangladesh Tea Board.
Bangladesh Tea Board member (Finance and Commerce) Nazneen Kauser Chowdhury at the meeting emphasized the positive role of Bangladesh Tea Board by placing special emphasis on online tea auctions.
After inspecting the auction center and tea broker house, the chairman of the tea board visited the tea bonded warehouse.
Among others, Tea Board Member (Research and Development) Mohammad Nurul Alam Chowdhury, Secretary (Acting) Mohammad Ruhul Amin, Marketing Officer Ahsan Habib, Former President of TTAB Shah Moinuddin Hasan, tea brokers and warehouse representatives were present at the meeting.