India, March 27 -- From March 7, 2026, the European Union (EU) has begun to apply tighter residue limits on certain neonicotinoid insecticides such as thiamethoxam and clothianidin that are widely used in tea cultivation. This move now threatens around 40 million kg (worth $ 145 million) trade. This comes even as India has recently signed a new Free Trade Agreement with the EU. While the new deal paves way for preferential market access through tariff concessions for several agricultural products from India, it does not shield our farmers and exporters from the increasingly stringent sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) being applied across EU, effectively acting as a non-tariff barrier.

Under its stated ambitions to reduce pestici...