Russia and Ukraine combinedly consume 45 million kg tea from Assam every year. The Indian Tea Association (ITA) is afraid that India may lose such a huge market due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
At present, a large number of Kenyan tea, flowers, coffee and fruits have stopped being sold to Russia, which has seriously affected Kenya's agricultural exports. It is estimated that exports to Russia worth nearly 10 billion shillings have been affected by sanctions.
Dimitri Rilke, head of Russian consultancy IKAR, predicted that Russia could export as much as 1.5 million tonnes of grain in March despite various restrictions.