In Assam, small tea growers dumped around 200,000 kilograms of green tea leaves on highways to protest the collapse of prices offered by factories, which had fallen to as low as ₹8–₹10 per kilogram. The growers accused factory owners of forming cartels and demanded government intervention to set a fair minimum price. With rising input costs and mounting losses, they took to the roads, blocking traffic with piles of tea leaves to draw attention to their economic distress, even as industry officials cited oversupply and reduced demand as reasons for the slump.