responsible for the drop in our export earnings from tea, this was not the case in the last financial year. Although the unit value realisation has further declined in 1986-87, the drop was only marginal at 60 paise per kg. In fact, if we had exported the targetted quantity of 220 million kg in 1986-87 even at the lower unit value realisation of Rs 30.32 a kg, the total earnings from tea exports could have more or less matched the previous year's export earnings. Clearly, the principal cause for the setback in 1986-87 was our inability to push adequate quantities of tea into the international markets.