KOLKATA: Tea auctioneers from the northern and southern parts of the country Friday said they have come together to form a body to safeguard their interests.

The body, christened Association of Tea Auctioneers (ATA) will work also for the smooth functioning of the auctioning system in the country. About 13 tea auctioneers licensed by the Tea Board, including majors J Thomas, Contemporary Brokers and Parcon formed the ATA.

Its secretary Sujit Patra told reporters here there was no formal institution so far for the auctioneers to deal with issues collectively. The newly-formed body will liaison with the Centre and states where tea is grown and also with regulatory authorities like the Tea Board.

The erstwhile practice of manual auction of tea has been replaced with e-auction since 2008-09. The ATA arranged a ceremonial manual auction of around 650 lots of Assam orthodox tea totalling 3.60 lakh kg on Friday.