Calcutta Tea Traders Association

Calcutta Tea Traders Association 6, Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata, India - 700001

Tea auctions started in Kolkata in 1861

Origin :
The Calcutta Tea Traders Association was formally constituted on 15^th September 1886 with a view to bring buyers, sellers and brokers of tea at the Kolkata auctions to a common forum and to provide an instructional framework for the conduct of the public tea auctions.

	To trace the history of C T T A, we have to begin on 27th December 1861 - the day the first public auction of tea held in Kolkata(formerly known as Calcutta) . The auction was conducted under the instructions of R Thomas & Company, general brokers, by the firm Mackenzie Lyall at No.2 Mission Row, Kolkata.
	On 19th February 1862, a second auction of tea was conducted by the firm of W.Moran & Company at No.5 Bankshall Street.
	Shortly after this, on 25th February, a third auction took place at the old Mint Mart where 751 chests of Tea were sold by W.Moran & Co. on behalf of Assam Tea Co. and Jorehaut Tea co. On 24th March of the same year, 100 lots consisting of 462 chests were auctioned at the New Mart, 8 Mission Row by R. Thomas & Co. By the late 1870s, tea auctions at this venue had became a regular feature.

Upto 1886, the tea auctions were held under the auspices of the Calcutta Tea Brokers Association. From 1887, tea auctions were brought under the general jurisdiction of the Calcutta Tea Traders Association.

Do you know?

Kolkata is the world's oldest functional tea auction center and handles around 95 million killograms of tea annually. The weekly public tea auctions take place on Mondays and Tuesdays and are held at Nilhat House, 11 R.N. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700 001. The centenary of tea auctions in Kolkata was celebrated in 1961 when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India laid the foundation stone of the present auction halls.

Milestones

Year	Events
1861	Start of the Kolkata tea auctions.
1947	Start of the Cochin tea auctions.
1963	Start of the Coonoor tea auctions.
1970	Start of the Guwahati tea auctions.
1976	Start of the Siliguri tea auctions.
1980	Start of the Coimbatore tea auctions.

The C T T A rules were framed in 1886 and these rules, added to and amended from time to time, govern the kolkata tea trade to this day.
As its emblem of 3 interlocked rings signify, the C T T A is a trinity of buyers, sellers and brokers of tea in Kolkata. There are a total of over 1300 members and these 3 essential sections of the trade are equally represented in the General Committee which runs the Association.

Primary Function :

The primary function of the C T T A is to supervise the Kolkata tea trade in general and to superintend and direct the auctions in particular. Above all, it is the duty of the Association to preserve the highest possible standards of integrity to further interests of Indian tea by fair and sound means.

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