Kathmandu, June 4 -- Just two weeks after India relaxed testing requirements for Nepali tea exports, fresh hurdles have emerged as Indian authorities have again begun mandatory sampling and laboratory testing of tea purchased from Nepal, prompting Indian buyers to suspend purchases and disrupting exports once more.

According to Nepali tea exporters, Indian traders have become reluctant to buy tea from Nepal after the Tea Board of India started collecting samples from buyers' warehouses and requiring laboratory clearance before the tea can be sold in the Indian market.

"It has been four to five days since Indian traders stopped buying tea from Nepali suppliers," said Shiva Kumar Gupta, senior vice-president of the Nepal Tea Planters Asso...