Kathmandu, June 18 -- Nepal's tea industry, one of the country's most important export sectors, has once again become entangled in trade tensions with India after the southern neighbour imposed what Nepali producers describe as restrictive new requirements on tea imports.

In a dramatic show of protest, all 83 tea factories in the eastern districts of Ilam and Jhapa shut down operations on Thursday, while representatives of the Nepal Tea Producers Association travelled to Kathmandu to press the government for urgent diplomatic intervention.

Tea producers say recurring trade barriers imposed by India have long hampered Nepal's tea exports, often following pressure from tea growers in West Bengal, India's second-largest tea-producing state...