India's tea production nudged 0.8 percent lower in 2018 from a year ago to 1311.63 million kg, trimming exports from the world's biggest black tea producer by 1.1 percent, the state-run Tea Board said on Friday. The south Asian country's exports eased to 249.11 million kg from 251.89 million kg a year ago, the board said in a statement.

India, the world's second-biggest tea producer, exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Egypt, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, with the orthodox variety exported to Iraq, Iran and Russia.

Copyright Reuters, 2019