In recent years, business was tough for tea growers in Caucasia, comprised of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The importance of tea production at the world’s most northern plantations is even recognised at the state level, but in the face of stiff competition with imports, this is still not enough to help the industry out of its current predicament.

The Caucasus region has a rich history in tea production, which might surprise many. In the 1970s, this area was a significant contributor to the global tea industry, with an impressive output of nearly 140,000 metric tonnes (mt) of tea. Georgia played a major role in this, accounting for 60 percent of the total production. At its peak, Georgia’s tea production alone reached an impressive 95,000 mt per year.

Caucasus tea largely met the demand of the tea market on one-fifth of the world’s land surface. It was also exported across countries of the socialistic camp, as well as to Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Mongolia, and some African states. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union was the fourth largest tea producer, following India, China, and Sri Lanka.

Those days are long gone now. In the 2020s, Caucasus tea accounts for only around 0.05 percent of the global production, as estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The transition to a market economy has been brutal for the tea industry in the Caucasus. Over 90 percent of cooperative farms involved in tea production have gone bankrupt, leaving behind vast swathes of abandoned tea plantations across the region.

Now, Georgian tea is even losing the domestic market, as estimated by Tengiz Svanadze, head of the Georgian Tea Association. In fact, Georgian tea meets only 25 percent of the local demand, while the rest is covered by imports.
Despite the bleak situation, there are glimmers of hope. In 2016, Georgia launched a tea industry revival programme, aiming to rejuvenate 7,000 hectares (ha) of abandoned tea plantations. A similar initiative was undertaken in Azerbaijan in 2018, with a goal of increasing tea production eightfold by 2027 to 8,500 mt.

However, these efforts have yet to pay off. Svanadze estimated that as of 2022, Azerbaijan manufactured between 500 and 1,000 mt of its own tea. A substantial share of the tea imported on the Georgian market comes from Azerbaijan, he admitted, adding that those were not locally grown products.

Georgian tea brand. Image: Friends in Georgia

Over the last several years, Azerbaijan heavily invested in several tea factories, which import tea leaves from Asia, instead of cooperating with local farmers.

In Armenia, the tea industry has a much smaller scale and is primarily concentrated in several high mountain areas nearly 1,700 meters above sea level, where farmers focus on herbal tea production. As reported by a local news outlet, Mir, Armenian mountain herbal tea is exported to Russia, Europe, and North America, though in small quantities.

In fact, tea growing has never been popular in Armenia – a country of coffee lovers. For example, BusinesStat, a local think tank, calculated that sales in the domestic tea market between 2018 and 2022 dropped from 370 to 346 mt, and the trend is likely to continue. The analysts emphasised that, on the other hand, Armenia has some of the highest coffee consumption levels per capita in the entire post-Soviet space.

A hard-to-forget bad name

It has been over three decades since the Soviet Union ceased to exist, but Caucasus tea growers still blame it for the ruined reputation of their brands.

“They [Soviet managers] tried to pump up Georgia to produce large quantities of tea to cover the Soviet’s needs for the drink. But this was an impossible task for a small country,” commented Andrey Skidan, tea production technologist. As a result, the quality of Georgian tea at that time was poor. Tea leaves were mixed with pieces of wood and other components, sometimes of unknown origin. “In the end, the drink was poorly brewed; its taste was dull and unsaturated,” he said.

Similar practices were introduced in Azerbaijan, but poor-quality tea is primarily associated with Georgia since it was the largest tea manufacturing republic at the time.

“We tried to break out to the Russian market with our tea, but the memories of Soviet-era quality are still blood-curdling,” a manager of a Georgian tea company revealed, admitting that some Russian importers still refrain from working with Georgian tea suppliers, though there are signs of improvement in this field.

Unfortunately, official figures suggest that the Georgian tea industry revival programme has gone sideways. In 2023, the country exported 1,522 mt of tea, worth only USD $2.2 million. Exports have been steadily shrinking during the last five years, plummeting by 27.5 percent during this time. In monetary terms, sales to foreign customers are halved compared with 2019, when they generated $4.4 million for the Georgian tea companies.

Georgian tea exports are shrinking but prospects are bright. Image: Organict Store

Svanadze insisted that the downward dynamics are not a sign of a crisis. He explained that the drop in sales is primarily attributed to a gradual switch of Georgian farmers towards manufacturing better quality products, which entails a temporary decline in output. “Georgian firms have switched to the production of high-quality tea. Everyone wants to brew high-quality tea, while the low-quality tea production, in practice, is no longer profitable, and accordingly, the harvest has shrunk.”

Svanadze said the change in quality helps Georgian tea better compete with imports on the domestic market, and the share of locally grown products has been steadily growing in recent years.

Some Georgian firms have reported a burgeoning tea-export renaissance. Tornike Shekiladze, director of tea manufacturing company, Gezruli Tea, disclosed that the company exported 400 kg of tea last year, primarily to the European Union (EU). Nearly 60 percent landed in France, 30 percent in the Czech Republic and the rest in Germany.

There might be other reasons for the negative production dynamics. Recently, Georgian farmers growing tea have faced fierce competition for land with other agricultural manufacturers and even investors from other economic segments. An ongoing boom in solar power generation in the country promises to drive the cost of land even higher, meaning that only high-margin businesses can sustain the rising costs.

Organic tea potential

Shote Bitatdze, founder of the Association of Georgian Organic Tea Manufacturers, is one of the enthusiasts struggling to give a new life to the local tea production. Bitatdze, who was engaged in successful business in China until 2006, moved back to his country where he saw a potential in growing high-quality ‘specialty’ tea.

Organic tea production perked up to 30 mt in Georgia in 2023, Bitatdze estimated. He added that this figure has a potential to grow to 200 mt if there is sufficient demand in the global market. Since 2009, the Chinese government has supported organic tea production in Georgia, helping to train local farmers and their personnel, Bitatdze said. “As practice showed, there are no preconditions for the development of mass tea production in Georgia,” he said, adding that at the end of the day, production costs at Georgian tea plantations appear to be higher than that of those from countries with tropical climates.

Exports in the spotlight

Analysts believe exports will largely determine the future of the Caucasus tea industry.

Natalya Zhukova, director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) Agribusiness Department, for example, expressed confidence that the region can benefit from its strategic location, close to the big markets of the post-Soviet space and the EU. However, he emphasised that to grasp its opportunities, the tea industry should play its cards right and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

“The international tea market continues to develop, with trends showing strong demand for a variety of quality tea products such as oolong and white leaf tea. By ensuring improved product quality and efficiency throughout the supply chain, as well as diversification of production, Georgia and Azerbaijan have much to offer tea lovers,” Zhukova said.

High quality Caucasus tea is on demand on the global market. Image: TeaTerra

Georgia, with a population of 3.7 million, Azerbaijan, with 10.1 million, and Armenia, with 2.8 million, are markets not comparable in size with the nearly 200 million Eurasia Economic Union and 450 million EU populations.

Dodging the reputational damage, Azerbaijan’s tea industry, in recent years, has been successfully utilising the export-oriented development model. In fact, there is more high-quality Azerbaijani tea abroad than in Azerbaijan itself, Rauf Garayev, a local agricultural economist, said. “For example, if you buy Azerbaijani tea in Russia, you will see that it is of higher quality and tastes better than what is sold here.”

Remarkably, tea consumption in Azerbaijan has jumped by nearly 50 percent over the past decade. However, local customers are still unwilling to pay extra for high-quality tea, while in Russia and the EU, Azerbaijani tea is perceived as a premium exotic product.

“We can sometimes hear from our citizens that the [locally grown] tea is impossible to drink, while foreigners who bought our tea in their countries [report] that it is of excellent quality,” Garayev said.

Azerbaijani tea companies are confident that some measures are needed to help them regain their market from importers. Uncontrolled tea imports into the country reportedly threaten the industry, including its premium segment. “In the near future, Azerbaijan can become a net tea importer instead of a tea manufacturer. And no steps are being taken to prevent this from happening,” Garayev stated.

Tea exports are now on the agenda even in Abkhazia and South Ossetia – breakaway unrecognised regions of Georgia. The Abkhazian government has purchased and installed a line for processing premium tea products from China for $22,000 million. Thanks to these investments, several tea plantations were revived in the country, securing an output of eight metric tonnes of tea. A part of this volume is due to be exported to Russia.

It is unlikely that the Caucasus tea industry will ever again achieve the Soviet-era production performance. However, by focusing more on quality and less on quantity, local growers have every chance of finding a comfortable niche in the global market.

• Vladislav Vorotnikov is a Batumi, Georgia-based multimedia B2B freelance journalist writing about the tea and coffee industries since 2012.

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Producing just over one half of the world’s tea in 2023, China remains the world’s dominant tea producer. Global tea production rose by 3.2 percent over the previous year, from 6.4 to 6.6 million metric tonnes (mmt) and the Middle Kingdom accounted for 50.6 percent, or 3.3 mmt while increasing its production by 5 percent over the previous year. India took second place with 20.7 percent of global production, having increased its yield by 2 percent.

Kenya rounds out the top three producers with 8.6 percent of the world’s annual production. Taken together, these three producers accounted for 80 percent of global production in 2023.

The top four tea-producing countries saw gains in production, including Sri Lanka. Ceylon tea production increased by 1.8 percent after having experienced a tumultuous period of economic struggle and agricultural policies that stymied tea production levels. Argentina, a significant source of black teas for the US market, has seen steady production declines for several years. Argentine tea production decreased by 4.5 percent over 2022 levels. Given historic trends and that the major producers continue to increase their production, overall global tea production levels are expected to continue rising.

All graphs courtesy of FirsdTea

Unlike the other main tea-growing countries, China is primarily a green tea producer: 57.9 percent, or 1.9 mmt of its 2023 production was green tea, followed by 0.49 mmt of black tea. This green tea alone accounts for just under 30 percent of 2023 global tea volume. The remainder of China’s tea is dark (hei) at 13.7 percent, wulong at 10 percent, white at 3 percent, and yellow tea at 0.7 percent. In 2019, black tea surpassed dark tea as the second-largest segment of tea production. Since then, production volumes of the two have remained fairly close. The broader popularity of black tea, along with growing domestic demand for ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and black tea’s relatively high average export price speaks in favour of further gains in black tea production share.

China’s top four tea-producing provinces – Fujian, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou – accounted for half of China’s tea production, and they each showed increases in production of between 1 and 5 percent. Double-digit gains in production were exhibited by Hubei, the fifth largest producer with a 10.6 percent gain, and Anhui, the eighth largest producer with a 12.4 percent gain. While Fujian may be the single largest tea-producing province, the greatest share of tea is still grown in the Western Belt (35.3 percent from Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces combined) followed by the Eastern Belt (25.7 percent from Fujian, Anhui, and Zhejiang). The Central Belt (Hubei, Hunan, and Shaanxi provinces) follows close behind with 22.2 percent of production.

Fujian may also be China’s top yielding tea province in terms of tons per hectare, but it is only fifth in terms of growing area. Yunnan province leads the pack with over 0.51 million hectares (mha) of tea fields, followed by Guizhou (0.47 mha), Sichuan (0.40 mha) and Hubei (0.38 mha). Fujian’s advantages lie in its warmer climate and more established production areas.

The Chinese government has encouraged the establishment of tea fields in the more poverty-impacted counties of the Central and Western Belts as a means of promoting rural development and strengthening local incomes. Efforts appear to have made progress, as the central government declared victory in eradicating poverty and now aims towards securing more infrastructure development and economic stability. For tea production, however, training these less-experienced workers continues. Outputs are expected to improve along with the maturity of young tea plants and the advancement of tea workers in the areas.

A notable exception is Guangdong province, which has the second highest yield per ha. The province does produce some well-known teas, like yingde black tea and dan cong wulong, but it is generally better known for its industrial output and commercial trade. Guangdong ranks ninth in overall tea production and thirteenth in hectares planted. It shows little sign of dedicating more land to future tea production.

China’s exports dip slightly

Global tea exports from producing countries declined by about 5 percent over the previous year, with China exports dipping by about 2 percent. China, however, maintained its place as the producing country with the second highest volume of exports. Kenya took the top position, having increased its exports by 14.7 percent over 2022 levels. Kenya accounted for 30.1 percent of global exports from producing countries. China’s 0.37 mmt of exports accounted for 21.2 percent of global exports from producing countries, and 11 percent of China’s annual production.

In terms of volume, 84.2 percent of China’s tea export was green tea and the next highest volume was black tea with 7.9 percent. Green tea exports remained relatively steady compared with 2022 levels, but black tea dropped by 12.6 percent over the previous year. This rise and fall in black export volumes coincided with a few factors. Supply of Ceylon black tea dropped in 2022. When this occurred, Pakistan and other major black tea-importing countries turned to China and others to meet their black tea demands. This surge stands in contrast with what occurred in other parts of the world, where tea imports increased in 2022 as buyers re-stocked after Covid, created supply chain woes, and then decreased their import levels in 2023 as they worked through excess inventory.

Morocco, China’s largest tea-export partner, showed a similar pattern. Most years, Morocco alone takes in about 20 percent of China’s exports, usually around 75,000 metric tonnes. 2020 saw a 9.6 percent decline in Chinese tea imports. The next two years saw import volumes return to usual levels, but 2023 levels declined again by about 16 percent from 75,400 metric tonnes to 59,800 metric tonnes. Ghana, which has been the third largest export destination, increased imports by 44 percent, swapping places with Uzbekistan. Taken together, these three countries import one third of China’s tea exports.

Russia and the United States took in 4 percent and 2.3 percent of China’s exports, respectively. Import volumes were down by 25.1 percent for Russia and 33.7 percent for the US. Overstocking was the main culprit for these declines, particularly for the US. Imports of Chinese teas into the US have been showing signs of rebalancing beginning early in 2024.

A strong outlook

China’s overall tea trends appear positive. Production levels are on track to increase around 4.5 to 5 percent based on average annual increases. Spring 2024 weather in most areas has cooperated, providing a healthy crop thus far. Development in tea producing areas, especially the Western and Central Belts, remains steady. Domestic consumer demand also appears to be on the uptick.

China’s tea industry has been highlighting the need for promoting demand, and recent years have seen an increase in the introduction of bottle teas and other tea-based RTD beverage products. Average export prices can be expected to stay steady between USD $5.50 to $6.00 per kg, although labour and farm inputs (fertiliser, agrochemicals) continue to rise. Export volumes are showing signs of rebounding after last year’s decline. With production and consumption rising, and exports recovering, China is poised to maintain its dominant role in global tea.

• Jason Walker is marketing director of Firsd Tea North America. Prior to his work with Firsd Tea, Walker served in a variety of roles in tea and beverage business capacities. His experience includes business services for small tea companies, a top-ranked online destination for tea consumer education and co-founding a coffee business. His insights draw upon his diverse range of experience in sales, operations and management in the tea world. He may be reached at: jason.walker@firsdtea.com.

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The preliminary main data for 2023 has just been issued to membership by the International Tea Committee (ITC), and the 25th Plenary Session of the Intergovernmental Group (IGG) on Tea of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently ended. Tea is thus fully in the focus with all the concerned parties: the farmers who produce the leaf, the factories that process it, those who trade, export, import and ship tea, as well as the packers, the multinationals, medium and small operators, the retailers, and the consumers who buy mass market, traditional, premium or novelty tea.

Considered an agricultural product that provides income to millions of smallholders, in particular in remote rural areas, tea is labelled as a ‘poverty relief crop’, and as such, is instrumental for keeping populations on the lands. Often, these farmers will also grow coffee as well as herbs and spices, which all together can provide a fair income. Although many are living reasonably well off their plot, others have no market access and remain poor. When farmgate prices are not rewarding, the leaf quality inevitably goes down, before a possible switch to other crops.

Whilst the main Western consumer markets in North America and Europe are all entirely addicted to their daily morning cups of tea and/or coffee, the global trade pattern of tea and coffee differs greatly, which may help to understand why tea is most often the cheapest cup on display. The fact is that only a relatively small share of the global tea production – ie, just 26 percent in 2023 – is exported, whilst three quarters are consumed by the home markets, which compares to over two thirds of the global coffee production being exported, and only about 34 percent being consumed domestically. Coffee, therefore, gets much more attention in the West and has been benefitting from intense promotion schemes for decades, giving the product a high cup profile that tea has not been able to access to date.

Aerating Vietnam Snow Shan Tea. Image credit: Vanessa Facenda

A first step towards enhancing the product profile globally may well be the introduction of the annual International Tea Day, which was approved by the UN General Assembly in December 2019 and has since been celebrated on 21 May every year. Following the Covid pandemic, the traditionally observed health benefits of tea are consistently highlighted in both consumer and producer markets, and more research is ongoing to take the issue further. However, despite several attempts to set up an interactive global platform for sharing relevant health related data, no effective steps have been taken towards this key target.

It may be of interest to note that some coffee ‘VIPs’ have been heard saying that tea is so obviously good for peoples’ health, that it does not need any further promotion, whilst coffee has to invest continuously to demonstrate that the cup does not carry any adverse health effects, a statement which does provide food for thought.

Production vs consumption

According to data issued by the London-based ITC, which publishes an Annual Bulletin of Statistics, tea production continues to steadily increase year over year and stands at 6.604 million metric tonnes in 2023, ie, up by 2 percent over 2022, and up by 26 percent over the past ten years. At the same time, consumption continues to lag, with an apparent 2023 consumption tonnage of 6.212 million tonnes, hence a gap of 392,000 tonnes between supply and demand, equivalent to about four times the US tea consumption in 2023. The latest provisional data issued by the ITC to membership show that this gap between world tea supply and world tea absorption was the highest ever in 2023 – bear in mind the trade disruptions due to political conflicts which weigh heavily on traditional consumer market patterns, together with the currently ongoing disruptions of transport logistics, in particular in the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal for supply to continental Europe.

China Chengdu tea market alley. Image credit: Barbara Dufrêne

The preliminary data for 2023 shows that there have been no major changes in the main market structure on the supply side, with China remaining the world’s leading producer and continuing to dominate with a production of 3.181 million tonnes, which represents a 49 percent share of the global production. This is quite overwhelming, although domestic consumption absorbs about 88 percent of this production. India holds the second spot with a production tonnage of 1.365 million tonnes, of which less than 17 percent has been available for export. The two giants are followed by the big black tea exporters: Kenya with 353,000 tonnes, Sri Lanka with 251,000 tonnes, Vietnam with 174,000 tonnes, and Indonesia with 125,000 tonnes. Amongst these major tea producers, one must also list Turkey, with a global production of 246,000 tonnes, which is mainly consumed by the domestic market.

The remaining 30 or so countries that produce tea today represent less than ten percent of the global volume, all with volumes less than 100,000 tonnes. This, of course, in no way impacts their quality potential, terroir or specialty tea profile, as they are world respected origins such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Nepal, Malawi and Rwanda – all renowned for their premium quality teas.

Concerning the consumer markets, demand appears to not be fully recovered from the Covid disruptions and is negatively impacted by the various political conflicts that interfere with the traditional trade flows. Thus, the global tonnage of exported teas, which had remained fairly stable, with an average level of around 1.750 million tonnes every year, over the past ten years, has slumped to 1.655 million tonnes in 2023, representing only 26.3 percent of the world production.

The ITC data show a consistent slowdown in the import volumes for all the big consumer markets in 2023 compared to 2022, with the exception of Pakistan, the world’s number one tea importer, keeping the import tonnage at the unchanged level of 236,000 tonnes. All the ‘big players’ show reduced tea import volumes in 2023, namely:

• USA: 104,240 tonnes, -13 percent;
• UK: 83,550 tonnes, -16 percent;
• Russian Federation/CIS: 220,000 tonnes, -5 percent;
• (Rest of) Europe: 129,000 tonnes, -8 percent;
• Central Asian markets: 540,430 tonnes, -5 percent;
• African markets: 344,235 tonnes, -7 percent, amongst which are the two main players (Egypt with 72,000 tonnes, -16 percent and Morocco with 60,000 tonnes, -27 percent) show significant reductions.

Although it is a fact that most producing countries are actively promoting domestic tea consumption, the export markets remain of vital importance to their economy, thus many believe it is urgently necessary to restore the balance between supply and demand. The ITC CEO, Manuja Peiris, recently travelled to East Africa and had many discussions with tea board officials and market operators in Kenya, Rwanda and Malawi. He reported that the Mombasa Tea Auction, the biggest in the world, which handles over 500,000 tonnes of tea per year, is heavily glutted with “unfresh teas,” which remain unsold auction after auction, take up precious storage space and severely obstruct the market.

Indonesia factory leaf variety. Image credit: Barbara Dufrêne

Peiris said he was surprised to learn that many years ago a huge oversupply of coffee had occurred in Brazil, generating such a dramatic price slump that the government decided to act. First, the excess coffee beans were withdrawn from the market and used as fuel for railway engines, replacing fire wood. Next, the government contracted scientific research to find a way to process the beans into a storable and convenient format. It took some time to eliminate the oversupply of green beans and more time to elaborate an attractive soluble coffee extract, but the prices moved up swiftly and some ten years later the Nescafé soluble coffee brand set out to conquer the world. Several decades later Brazil became the world’s number one coffee producer and the number one coffee consuming market (by volume) after intensely promoting quality cups locally. Peiris wonders whether this impressive success story could be adapted to the tea market.

Added value and diversification

There is the huge potential for integrating tea extracts into ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and other cola drinks, which launched in the 1990s in Europe, followed by many evolving RTD launches ever since, despite the drawback of a small sugar content not yet overcome. Instant teas have been extremely successful even before in North America, where brewed iced tea has been the favourite cup for a long time. Chinese and Japanese tea majors have been investing in canned RTD specialty tea and bottled RTD mass market teas for decades and these tea extract-based soft drinks have been spreading widely.

Matcha Organic Japan’s tea field and factory, Shizuoka, Japan. Image credit: Yumi Nakatsugawa

More pricey segments continue to be explored by fine-tuning premium origins and also targeting specific health options. In searching of some more massive innovation, it might be of interest to recall a challenging debate between the former FAO official in charge of IGG Tea, Kaison Chang (who retired in 2018), and some Chinese tea science experts, about a possible “Global Road Safety Campaign,” which promotes small RTD cans or bottles containing a strong and sweetened ‘safe driving tea’. Road safety is a huge issue everywhere, with overtired drivers, not only in China and India, but everywhere in the world. If such bottles of ‘safe driving tea’ were formally approved, labelled as such, and given official support from the UN World Health, the UN FAO, as well as from producer country authorities, their global launch would combine many key assets. With tea extraction factories operating in many producing countries that could cooperate readily in such a Road Safety Campaign, the first result would be the resorption of considerable volumes of leaf.

Looking forward

Whilst there are happy tea farmers, successful tea brands, and thriving tea houses, there are many in the tea industry who are struggling with unrewarding prices, low quality cups, and the lack of global support and high-level genuine product promotion. There are many efforts developed in the consumer markets to enhance product knowledge through tea teaching, tea training, tea tasting competitions, tea awards and more, but there is no global platform and no global structure for providing shared visibility; nor is there a universally supported reference message underlining the goodness of the cup.

Coordinating research about the health benefits of tea would be a great step forward. Establishing a platform to allow direct market access for small producers has been a discussion item on the IGG Tea agenda for several years. There seems to be a growing worry about the lack of an efficient team prepared to take action and follow up the several constructive proposals tabled during the UN FAO IGG Tea plenary meetings, which take place every two years. Whilst they readily take stock, there does not seem to be any follow up action, which is creating true concern.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former Secretary General of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@orange.fr.

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The global green tea market is steadily growing these days thanks to maintaining stable consumption and its favourable image as a healthy drink.

Since the end of the pandemic, consumption of green tea has significantly increased with the best dynamics being observed in its major consuming regions, among which are primarily Asian and African nations.

Matthew Barry, insight manager, food and beverage at Euromonitor International said that presently, green tea is the second-most important segment of the global tea market, with most consumption occurring in either East Asia or North Africa. “In both of these areas, green tea has a very strong historical tradition associated with it, and it represents a large portion of overall tea consumption. China by itself is roughly half the global market, followed by Morocco, Indonesia, and Japan,” he explained.

“Outside of those two regions green tea has a presence virtually everywhere, but it is very unusual to see it rise much beyond a fifth of the total tea market. In the rest of the world there is not much of a historical tradition of green tea drinking so it tends to appeal mostly to wellness-oriented minorities of tea drinkers.”

China & Japan: green tea behemoths

China and Japan traditionally have been the largest producers and suppliers of green tea on a global scale. The level of their domestic consumption has declined in recent years but it has been compensated for by the increase in exports overseas.

In the case of China, since the beginning of the 2000s, the country has significantly increased its green tea exports, which are currently valued in the range of USD $1.3 to $1.4 billion annually. According to earlier data from the 2022 China Tea Import and Export Trade Analysis Report, among the major green tea-producing and exporting provinces in China, Zhejiang Province ranks first with an export volume of 147,000 tonnes and a value of $451.22 million, along with Fujian Province and Anhui Province.

As for the domestic market, according to China Tea Circulation Association data, sales of green tea in China in 2022-2023 were equivalent to 1.2-1.3 million tonnes annually, accounting for 58.1 percent of the total sales. In terms of the other teas China produces:

✦ Black tea – 314,800 tonnes, accounting for 14.3 percent;
✦ Dark tea – 313,800 tonnes, accounting for 14.2 percent;
✦ Oolong tea – 200 tonnes, accounting for 10 percent;
✦ White tea – 62,500 tonnes, accounting for 2.8 percent; and
✦ Yellow tea – 12,300 tonnes, accounting for 0.6 percent.

Japan’s green tea sector has also been experiencing a renaissance. Due to the impact of the Japanese food boom and increasing health consciousness, the amount of Japanese tea exports has more than doubled over the past ten years. According to Japanese Ministry of Finance Trade Statistics data, the demand for powdered tea, including matcha, has increased, and exports in 2023 reached a record high of approximately 21.9 billion yen (approximately $132.6 million). The bulk of exports goes to the United States, which accounts for about 34 percent of the total export volume, most of it is matcha, while leaf tea is popular in the European Union and Taiwan. The Ministry reports that organically grown tea accounts for nearly 80 percent of exports to the European Union and United Kingdom, the bulk of which is green tea.

The Ministry also noted that the current popularity of Japanese green tea in the US is also reflected by the fact that many Silicon Valley companies even offer Japanese green tea as a work conditioning drink in their employee welfare programmes.

Traditionally, most Japanese green tea is produced and grown in the Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan’s leading tea-producing area and its Shizuoka City is known as the ‘town of tea’.

The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is creating conditions for a further increase of exports of Japanese green tea internationally. By 2025, the export value of Japanese green tea should reach 31.2 billion yen (about $197 million), compared with about 25 billion yen (about $158.8 million) in 2023. This is part of the existing state strategy to increase the overall export value of Japan’s agricultural products to over 2 trillion yen in 2025 (circa $12.63 billion) and 5 trillion yen (circa $31.57 billion) in 2030.

Consumption grows in Africa

In recent years, the African region has become one of the major consumers of green tea. For example, Morocco, located in Northern Africa, currently ranks as the world’s sixth largest tea consumer. Green tea accounts for the bulk of tea consumed in the country and it is supplied by China, which leads in terms of tea exports to the region, well ahead of its major rivals.

Harvesting in West Java. Image: Barbara Dufrene

Official statistics of the Moroccan Association of Tea and Coffee Producers (AMITC), report that the kingdom alone accounts for nearly 25 percent of the overall volume of global exports of China green tea, including 46 percent of the ‘Gunpowder’ variety and 54 percent of the ‘Chunmee’ variety.

According to AMITC data, with an annual average of 82,000 tonnes, Morocco is considered one of the world’s leading importers of tea, most of is green tea varieties. Per capita consumption of green tea in the country is estimated at 1.85 kilos per year. AMITC plans to launch production of its own green tea brand as efforts to grow tea started in the 1970s in the Larache region of the country.

In general, green tea consumption in the North African region and in countries in the Sahara region such as Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Ivory Coast has significantly increased in recent years, and the growth is ongoing.

Most analysts expect that with the emergence of Northern Africa as one of the world’s major green tea-consuming hubs, the level of competition for its market among global producers will be heightened in years to come.

In addition to China and Japan, the African region is also under the radar of another major regional player — Indonesia.

Indonesia: growing production

In accordance with the Indonesian Tea Statistics Report from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the national tea production in the country varied in the range of 120,000-130,000 tonnes annually during the period of 2022-2023 with the possibility of an increase this year.

In geographical terms, West Java is the largest tea producer in Indonesia with a volume of 66.87 percent of total national production in 2023. Currently, tea is planted on an area of 108.75 hectares in Indonesia with an average productivity of 1.6 tonnes/hectares/year. Most of these areas are green tea. However, according to local experts, the capacity of Indonesia’s green tea processing industry is still limited.

Despite maintaining a high popularity, most analysts do not expect a sharp growth in demand for green tea in Indonesia, over the next several years. Per EM’s Barry, “we are anticipating a slight decline in global green tea consumption [between] 2024 and 2025 of around 1 percent in retail volume terms. That is primarily coming from declining consumption in China and Japan, both of which are very mature markets and facing challenging demographics.”

New green tea markets

In addition to the African nations, a major impetus for a further growth of green tea and its consumption is expected to be provided by India, as well as Turkey and some Arabian nations to a lesser extent.
“The standout in green tea consumption growth is absolutely India, which has been seeing consistent double-digit consumption increases for some time. There is little reason to expect that to slow down.

India is already of course a massive consumer of tea, but health and wellness trends have shifted an increasing number of Indian consumers towards green over the black tea that has historically dominated in India,” Barry explained. “A couple of other big historically black-drinking markets are also seeing similar shifts, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.” He said black tea is not seriously threatened in any of these countries but there is an increasing number of occasions shifting to green.

The green tea segment has always been of interest to global players, many of which have significantly expanded their presence in recent years.

An example is US-based Harney & Sons Teas, which has continued to increase its green tea offerings, most notably introducing additional specialty Japanese teas. Emeric Harney, a spokesperson for the company, said that one of its new green teas is called Wazuka Guricha and comes from the Wazuka Valley, the other Asanoka Sencha from the Miyakazi prefecture.

Harney believes the US will provide some major opportunities for growth in the coming years. “America will continue to grow its green tea consumption in 2024. We still find that our export markets show a tempered interest in green teas.”

The US market will remain a priority for another major player – The Republic of Tea. Kristina Tucker, minister of enlightenment and commerce at The Republic of Tea, said the brand continues to see demand for innovative green tea blends. “Our organic Double Green Matcha in tea bags consistently grows year over year since its launch in 2007. Demand for matcha is growing fast again as well as our green teas with a wellness benefit, such as our organic SuperGreen Brain Boost tea.”
Currently, The Republic of Tea offers over 50 varieties of green tea, and “we plan to continue to innovate new blends for green tea lovers. As our focus is on the American tea drinker, we certainly anticipate continued strong demand for green teas in the USA.”

• Eugene Gerden is an international freelance writer who specialises in covering the global coffee, tea and agricultural industries. He works for several industry titles and may be reached at gerden.eug@gmail.com.

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Black tea still leads in terms of global production volume, but green tea has seen a slight but gradual gain in share over the last 10 years. According to the London-based International Tea Committee (ITC), the share of green tea production has increased from about 30 percent to 33 percent. Estimates put the world’s total green tea production at 2.1 million metric tonnes (mmt) in 2021.

China drives green tea production, contributing over 1.8 mmt. This makes the Middle Kingdom the provider of over 85 percent of the world’s green tea. In relation to its own production, however, green tea comprises about 60 percent of its total annual production. Green tea holds the largest share in terms of China’s output, with black tea being the next closest at about 14 percent of annual China production. It is worth noting, however, that China’s classification system for teas distinguishes between green tea and flower tea. Because of this, all forms of jasmine green tea – from specialty jasmine green pearl teas to jasmine green tea fannings – are not counted towards the green tea totals but are designated as flower teas. Depending on interpretation, this can serve to under-report the actual amount of green tea produced.

Japan is the next best-known home of green tea production, contributing about 0.8 mmt of green tea per year. The majority of Japan’s green tea comes in two forms. Sencha accounts for a little over one half, and bancha makes up more than a third. Matcha (tencha) and gyokuro each contribute less than 4 percent of the total volume but their average value in USD per kg is more than double that of sencha.

Other well-known tea-producing countries, including India, Argentina, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam either do not parse out green tea production from black, or mainly focus on reporting green tea exports.

China leads in exports

As may be expected, China also dominates in green tea exports. China’s 2021 green tea exports totaled 0.31 MMT, or nearly 85 percent of China’s total exports. Value-wise, however, green tea exports represent roughly 60 percent of China’s exports. China’s average annual export rates reached USD $5.55/kg, with green tea averaging $4.44/kg compared to black tea at $10.25/kg. China’s main export partner has remained Morocco for several years now, as the country has relatively high per-capita tea consumption and a longstanding tradition of drinking green tea (eg Moroccan mint tea).

Vietnam appears to be one of the next largest green tea exporters, though nowhere close to China’s volume. In 2021, Vietnam exported 62,000 mt of green tea, or just shy of half of the nation’s total exports. Vietnam’s top tea export destinations include Pakistan, The Republic of China (ROC), and Russia. It is unclear as to the share of green tea exports among these countries, especially when Pakistan and Russia are known for purchasing significantly more black tea than green.

Japan, on the other hand, exported over 6,000 mt of predominantly green tea. As mentioned above, Japan’s production is largely divided between sencha and bancha. About one-third of Japan’s green tea exports went to the US.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each exported between 5,500 and 3,000 mt of green tea. Indonesia’s major tea export partners include Malaysia, Russia, and the US. Sri Lanka’s top export destinations include Iraq, Turkey, and Russia. India’s three largest tea export countries include Russia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

US imports of green tea grows

Of the world’s top three tea-importing countries (Pakistan, Russia, and the US), the US provides the clearest picture of green tea imports. Of Russia’s 135,000 mt of imported tea, at least 85 percent of it is black tea. Similarly, tea imports into the US in 2022 showed about 14 percent, or 16,618 mt was green tea. Of that total, nearly 7,000 mt originated from China. A further dissection of US green tea imports reveals that 1,800 mt was organic green tea, of which about 1,000 mt came from China.

Producing countries consume the most tea

Considering that the world’s top two producing countries (China and India) generally keep about 85 percent of their produced tea within their borders, these countries hold sway over global green tea consumption. China’s domestic sales of green tea reached 1.3 mmt. During that period, China only imported about 4,300 mt of green tea.

India’s green tea volumes also remained available for the domestic market. As with China, at least 85 percent of India’s total tea production volume didn’t leave the country. This proportion held true for green tea as well. About 15 percent of India’s green production was exported, leaving about 85 percent within its borders.

The US also held relatively steady in an 85/15 split of black-to-green tea consumption, with more emphasis placed on iced tea.

In relation to per capita consumption of tea, some of the major countries increased their consumption over the past ten years. Most notably was Morocco, a major green tea consumer, which increased an estimated 15 percent per head. China’s per capita also saw a significant rise from just shy of 1 kg per head to roughly 1.75 kg.

The outlook for green tea is positive

Compared to black tea, green tea consumption still appears modest but with positive signs for the future. The UK has seen declines in black tea consumption, while green tea has remained relatively steady. Green tea in the US also holds promise, as consumers are attracted to the reported health benefits of green tea.

The Japanese tea industry still sees potential for the further expansion of matcha exports, with matcha being viewed by international markets as a more premium and health-forward tea option. The nation has seen decreases in production of leaf tea and increases in powdered teas and teas used for RTD. The Japanese government has established initiatives to upgrade tea farms, modernize tea harvesting and processing, and promote Japanese teas in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

China’s expansion of new tea fields also indicates a continued trend toward steady production of green teas. China’s internal estimates classify about one third of the nation’s current tea plants as over 30 years old and recommend removing or replacing these less-productive bushes. A gradual phasing out of old fields and the advent of new fields coming online will help keep China on top as a green tea powerhouse.

• Jason Walker is marketing director of Firsd Tea North America. Prior to his work with Firsd Tea, Walker served in a variety of roles in tea and beverage business capacities. His experience includes business services for small tea companies, a top-ranked online destination for tea consumer education and co-founding a coffee business. His insights draw upon his diverse range of experience in sales, operations and management in the tea world. He may be reached at: jason.walker@firsdtea.com.

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With more than 80 million people involved in tea production, Covid-19 certainly affected the industry. Once countries began closing their borders in March, for example, international buyers stopped visiting origins. When air traffic was halted, shipments of tea (and numerous other commodities) were interrupted. Perhaps most impacted, however, were tea origins, John Snell, founder of the consulting firm, NMteaB, noted in his presentation, although some regions were affected much more than others.

In China, which overtook India in terms of tea production in 2006, Snell said the strict restrictions imposed by the government on citizens to control the outbreak impacted production somewhat, but they mainly affected domestic sales and speed of exports. While the spring harvest was heavily reduced due to lack of the labour caused by the virus, summer and autumn productions were not affected much. However, many farmers have reduced the production because they are not optimistic about the market/consumption. Interestingly, despite international trade being blocked and shaky logistics at the beginning of 2020, Snell said that China’s tea exports were only slightly reduced — about 1.65%.

India, on the other hand, has not faired as well. Lockdowns in the country began on 24 March. While the easing of some restrictions in April enabled some first flush production and preparation for the second flush in Darjeeling, the first flush in Assam was completely eradicated due to widespread closures across the country. Snell noted that the second flush was very good quality but lower on volume. An unexpected positive result of the halt in production in India has been the increase in green leaf prices for the bought leaf sector. “Previously 12Rs/Kg these farmers were on the brink of collapse,” he said. “Now green leaf is fetching 40 50Rs/Kg.”

In Sri Lanka, the lockdown was in place from the second week of March through the end of May. Tea was declared an essential service, so production was maintained. According to Snell, the biggest impact was to value-added trade, where access to packaging materials and labour restrictions bit hard. He added that the loss of hard currency from visitors and overseas workers is having the biggest impact.

In East Africa, tea crops were unaffected. Snell said that by all accounts, the majority of tea produced in Argentina (whose leading export market is the United States) was sold by the time the pandemic was announced, but he noted that “the Argentine tea crop of 2019-20 was unspectacular.”

Live tea auctions were cancelled so several countries such as India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka held online auctions, which were successful according to several reports.

However, exporting tea is still a problem as customs in many countries have been slow to process exports due to Covid-19 restrictions on staff. “Demand for certain goods has been slower, globally, as industry has slowed and PPE shipments taking space,” shared Snell. He further explained that shipments have been affected because the flow of vessels and containers has been upset and they are sitting in the wrong spots, while shipping companies have pulled sailing schedules, pooled sailings with other lines and have disregarded freight contracts.

Despite the burdens incurred by Covid-19, the prognosis for the global tea industry seems to be good. “The likelihood is for some short-term pain with respect to logistics — time to market and costs. [However,] there is no significant long-term effect on supply and demand,” said Snell.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

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The Specialty Tea Institute’s latest Tea Talk (in conjunction with the Tea Association of the USA) featured Angela McDonald, president of the United States League of Tea Growers, and founder of Oregon Tea Traders, who discussed the potential of having a viable tea-growing industry in the US.

Although certainly not a new crop, tea is a relatively new addition to US agriculture. McDonald noted that tea-growing in the US has been tried before but many of those attempts were abandoned. T&CTJ first covered the topic of tea growing in North America in a cover story in our May 2014 issue, where we discussed Bigelow’s tea plantation in South Carolina, tea farms in Hawaii, and smaller start up tea projects in California and Canada. Bigelow still maintains its tea plantation, which is the largest working tea farm in the US, and Hawaii has an active tea industry, but do the other tea gardens we spotlighted still exist or did they cease their efforts? I am honestly not sure, but McDonald said tea can be a viable crop in the US.

“It is a difficult crop to establish because it can take 5 to 8 years [before plants become productive] and there is a lot of potential for problems during that time. It is also a very regional crop — what works in one region of the US may not work in another,” said McDonald, “but it is possible and reasonable to do, and it is viable.”

All tea consumed in the US is grown in other countries, “but tea-producing countries have a lot of problems such as a lack of labour (younger workers moving to urban areas), sustainability issues, and Covid-19 has brought many tea industry issues to the forefront,” she said, adding that the ‘locavore’ mentality has also been highlighted during the pandemic as consumers want to know more about their food and where it is grown.

McDonald explained that with smaller footprints there is the opportunity to have fresher tea as it is not be shipped as far, thus a short time from picking to processing to the shelf [which also reduces the carbon footprint]. “The US is a huge country with a lot of microclimates so flavour profiles can be created for single origins such as ‘Oregon Tea’ or ‘North Carolina Tea,’ etc,” said McDonald. “This would secure a domestic supply of tea and there are export possibilities, so tea becomes economically viable as [the industry develops a] customer base from around the world.” She also noted that there is an opportunity for agro-tourism, which can further help develop the domestic tea industry.

“Tea grows fine here,” said McDonald. “The easiest places to grow are in Hawaii, the southern states, coastal areas [California, North and South Carolina], and some Midwest regions, but it is harder once you head north.”

I am intrigued by the concept of a US tea-growing industry (If cigarette sales continue to decline, could tobacco farmers turn to tea?) but am curious about the economic viability given how labour intensive tea-picking is coupled with the strict labour laws in the US.

“Tea is way too labour intensive but there are a lot of changes going on in terms of harvesting and processing machinery that are making the industry more feasible,” said McDonald. “So, it’s not necessarily [viable] now, but in 5 to 10 years – it’s a long-term crop – it’s possible. We need to focus on production and labour…But it’s really a great time, a great opportunity to grow tea here as there is a demand for it — those who do sell it are selling out each year even though it is pricey.”

McDonald pointed out that there are a lot of different ways to help reduce labour costs, such as mechanisation. “Mechanised [harvesting and processing] is important. Harvesters save labour time and costs as do [processing equipment such as] rolling machines. They cost a few thousand dollars but it’s doable.”

The US League of Growers is trying to help farmers to develop the domestic tea industry. McDonald said that machinery is coming along in terms of quality and size as there is machinery for small farms, so it is more affordable. “We are advocating to have consultants visit small farms and we are encouraging farmers to grow and invest in machinery [harvesting, processing] together [akin to a cooperative] so there is one centralized processing facility that is shared,” she explained. “[Tea-growing in the US can be a viable industry], but it has to be done right and scale is a big thing. Doing it together by sharing machinery and expertise is really the most [practical] way for small growers (those with 1 or 2 acres).”

So, it may not be too long before we see “grown in the USA” tea popping up on store shelves domestically, and even internationally…

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

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So far, the agricultural sector including tea production, continues following safety requirements such as social distancing. The Indonesian tea industry responded quickly and took necessary actions when the outbreak began to prevent the pandemic from disturbing the supply chain of tea.

PT Kharisma Pemasaran Bersama Nusantara (KPBN) is the marketing agent for the agricultural commodities produced by the government owned plantations such as palm oil, rubber, sugar, and tea. KPBN conducts the Jakarta Tea Auction every Wednesday, but they decided to move to an online auction in the end of March. They have already established an auction platform and started selling off-grade teas in 2019. Therefore, 18 March became the last manual “open-cry” tea auction in Jakarta, when KPBN informed all attending buyers that they were going to switch to the digital auction for main-grades of teas beginning with the next sales. KPBN communicated with individual buyers directly with details and commenced the e-auction for all teas since 25 March.

A private tea producer and a trader, PT Indoglobal Galang Pamitra, started teleworking in late March, prior to the lockdown imposed on Jakarta and its satellite cities, including Bogor where their office is located. Bogor is situated about 50 kilometers south of Jakarta and coming up and down to attend the Jakarta tea auction in a heavy traffic jam or by a tightly packed train had been tough on Pamitra. The e-auction greatly reduced their travelling time.

However, Vladimir Mosyagin, a Russian origin associate business partner of the PT Indoglobal, mentioned its merit and demerit, “Of course the online auction saves time on travelling. On the other hand, it was nice to meet with the auctioneer and other buyers face-to-face in the venue. Now it is not practicable.” He also pointed out the limits of teleworking as a tea trader. “Remote work is not easier. In the daily business, we need to do so many things which cannot be available through internet. Some of us still go to the office when tasting, blending and sampling need to be done. For the time being it is impossible to make the whole business processes under computer control and to archive all documents in a convenient way.”

PT Indoglobal is involved in tea production in Wonosobo, Central Java, obtaining 50% of the share of a plantation company, PT Perkebunan Tambi. The other 50% share is owned by the Wonosobo municipality government, and they manage three tea plantations; Tambi, Bedakah and Tanjungsari. All are certified by the HACCP and the Rainforest Alliance, so they have been practicing hygienic requirements in order to avoid contamination of bacteria or foreign materials. In addition to the existing food safety norms, now they have introduced social distancing and reducing the workforce to keep their employees away from the new virus.

According to Mosyagin, the main difficulties of the Indonesian tea trade due to the Covid-19 are on the logistics side. Quarantine, customs, port, and shipping companies all are operating slower than their normal efficiency. – Yumi Nakatsugawa

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The Darjeeling district in the State of West Bengal is famous for its flavoury tea unique to the Himalayan foothills. The first flush, which is produced in March and April, and the second flush, which is manufactured in May and June, are their premium products favoured by tea connoisseurs worldwide. Consequently, producers expect the most attractive prices in these two main quality seasons, which keep the tea estates economically sustainable. Furthermore, the Darjeeling tea estates are still recovering from the impact of the 104-day closure between June and September in 2017 caused by the political strike that took place across the entire Darjeeling region. Therefore, some producers were seriously concerned about the recurrence of a huge crop loss in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The government’s decision to conditionally relax tea production in Darjeeling has brought a great relief for the producers. Although there are no Covid-19 cases reported among all 87 tea estates in Darjeeling so far, the West Bengal Government has instructed stringent rules such as operating with 25 percent of the workforce, washing hands and applying hand sanitiser and wearing face masks (provided by the State Government) by all workers as well as ensuring social distancing in tea-processing factories, office rooms and tea fields.

Namring Tea Estate, located northeast of the region, started first flush production in the beginning of March, and manufactured about five metric tonnes before the lockdown was ordered. Following the announcement of the partial relaxation, they first guided all workers to follow the government norms accurately. After the reopening of the tea garden, workers may produce some late first flush, but mostly begin to prepare tea bush for the second flush with clearing weeds.

Prateek Poddar, the owner of Namring Tea Estate, estimates they will lose 80% of first flush and 30% of annual production, which is about 300 metric tonnes in a normal year, even if they can continue producing tea by early December 2020. To protect Darjeeling tea estates from the Covid-19, Poddar suggests some restrictions for the visitors from outside of the region, maintaining hygiene and cleanliness standards, as well as educating workers to keep following rigid safety manners.

Binod Mohan, managing director of Tea Promoters (India) Pvt Ltd, who operates five tea gardens in Darjeeling (Selimbong, Seeyok, Singell, Samabeong, Snowview) commented, “Due to the cold weather experienced in this winter, the first flush production in upper elevations was delayed by about a week to ten days. Many tea gardens in higher elevations did not commence manufacturing or produced just small quantities before the lockdown. First flush season is still going on, but the quantity of premium teas will be limited. After the reopening, the primary focus is to ensure safety of workers and staff, and urgent tasks are to pluck, level the bushes and start weeding. We have requested the government for support at this critical time.”

Despite restarting tea production, the tea auction for the Darjeeling teas, warehousing, transport, and issuing the Certification Trade Marks (CTM) of Darjeeling Tea by the Tea Board India are all still suspended. Even the five metric tonnes of the first flush manufactured in Namring in early March could not yet be delivered to their buyers. The normalisation of the Indian tea trade seems to take more time. However, utmost cautious measures are expected under the current difficult circumstances caused by the Covid-19.

This week’s guest blog is contributed by Yumi Nakatsugawa. Yumi is a contributing tea writer to T&CTJ. Based in Japan, she may be reached at: ym_n@nifty.com.

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India:

• All tea gardens are under lockdown and not operational
• For more information, visit: http://www.teaboard.gov.in/HOME

Sri Lanka:

• Continuing under safety precautions within the curfew period
• People can engage in the agricultural sector including the tea sector
• Government directive that tea production must continue still stands
• For more information, visit: http://www.srilankateaboard.lk/

Kenya:

• Kenya now has 28 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the second highest in the region after Rwanda that has 41
• “Social distancing is now our new norm, it is our new way of life,” President Kenyatta said on 25 March. He also announced a nationwide nighttime curfew.
• Exempted are organisations rendering critical and essential services which include food dealers and transporters of farm produce
• Tea producers have taken it that they are exempt as well and are currently seeking further clarification from the government
• For more information, visit: https://agricultureauthority.go.ke/

China:

• China reported no new domestic cases of coronavirus for three consecutive days (18-20 March) and has resumed work and production in every sector
• Tea production is at full capacity
• Foreign airlines have been limited to one flight per week as of 22 March
• Government is beginning to allow internal travel and a return to work in light of several days of no new cases

Argentina:

• On 20 March, the Argentine government announced a lockdown through 31 March
• For more information, visit:

The Tea Association of the USA will continue to share updates on tea origins, and tea industry overall, as information is available.

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All images courtesy of Barbara Dufrêne

Data and feedback from the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Inter Governmental Group (IGG) Tea, located in Rome, Italy, together with the London-based International Tea Committee’s (ITC) Annual Bulletin of Statistics issued in October 2019, offer a thorough overview of the current state of the global tea market. Thus, looking back over the past decade helps identify trends and provide an outlook towards future developments.

Status of Supply and Demand

World tea production has increased at an average annual growth rate of 4.7 percent over the past decade to reach 5.89 million tonnes in 2018. This continued growth in global volume was mainly generated by China’s hugely expanded tea output, which has almost doubled since 2009, reaching 2.616 million tonnes in 2018, that is, 44.4 percent of the world’s teas. This massive expansion caters to an unprecedented growth in domestic demand, coming from an ever-growing urban population with more and more disposable income.

Production in India, the world’s second largest tea producer, also shows growth with an output of 1.33 million tonnes in 2018, up by 37 percent since 2009. Output in the two largest tea-exporting countries, Kenya and Sri Lanka, reached 0.49 million tonnes and 0.30 million tonnes respectively in 2018, with Kenya displaying an increase of 57 percent since 2009, whilst Sri Lanka’s tea output, hampered by bad weather conditions and restrictive government rulings, shows growth of only five percent since 2009.

Black teas continue to dominate the market and this dividing line between the black tea and green tea segments remains a major feature of the global tea scene. The traditional auction system, which was introduced during colonial rule in order to secure the supply for British, Dutch and North American consumers is fully focused on black tea. Industrial black tea manufacturing was introduced some 150 years ago in India, Sri Lanka, East Africa and Indonesia for export purposes only. According to Manuja Peiris, chief executive of the ITC, the auction system remains the best way to move important volumes and to cash in the selling price. Being run publicly by appointed staff, the fully transparent system gives good insight into the status of supply and demand and price development.

The auction system may need some overhaul to adopt more flexible procedures and better use of digital methods, noted Joydeep Phukan, the principal officer and secretary of India’s Tea Research Association (TRA). He indicated that investigations are currently ongoing about modernising the Indian auction system, which operates five regional platforms, and moved 41 percent of the total volume of auction-sold black teas in 2018.

El Mamoun Amrouk, the FAO officer in charge of IGG Tea, confirmed these views and underlined that the share of auction sold tea as calculated on the global tea export volume, rose from 61.4 percent in 2009, to 68.6 percent in 2019, which looks like operators continued to approve the system as the best choice. He also said that tea prices were on a downward trend since 2017 but partly recovered in 2019. Talks were ongoing with the Chinese Tea Authorities, to find ways to capture price data for green teas, in order to improve coverage and obtain more insight about global tea sales revenues.

On the other side, there is the highly diversified world of the green teas, which are grown and consumed by the traditional origin tea-producing countries, with China leading, followed by Vietnam, Japan and Korea who have been growing tea for centuries as their peoples’ own heritage cups. In China, which is widely accepted as the cradle of tea cultivation, there are no auction platforms and no agreed grading and quality standards. Thousands of different teas harvested from the many tea regions are displayed on sale in the local towns’ dedicated tea markets, with huge such tea market hubs in Guangzhou/Kanton, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Wuhan and Kunming, etc.

Trading is carried out in a fully private, person to person manner, with no price/volume disclosure, no transparency and no data. It is a regularly reported fact that for the past few years and with growing demand, tea prices have continued to rise in China. This has now opened a door for India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam to supply some good cups with novelty and a good quality/price ratio, to the Chinese consumers. There is some public auction trading in Japan mainly for sencha green teas, where wholesale companies buy to prepare their blends, but on a very local scale. There are no auctions in Vietnam or Korea.

State of the Global Consumer Markets

Looking at the producing countries, per capita consumption has continued to increase over the past 10 years. This is quite spectacular in China, where the share of the tea output available for export continues to decline, from 22 percent in 2009 down to 14 percent in 2018, and also for India, where only 19 percent of the teas produced in 2018 have remained available for export. One can also see growth in many other producing countries throughout Asia and Africa, where tea is well promoted among domestic consumers, as a healthy and home-grown cup.

In the main importing markets, one can see that decline continues in the mature, mainly black tea-drinking markets that are Russia and the United Kingdom, where imports have decreased by nine percent and ten percent respectively since 2009. This decline is partly offset by the ongoing growth of tea imports to the USA, where tea consumption continues to rise with an increase of eight percent since 2009. The USA now ranks rank as the world’s number three tea-importing market, with 0.12 million tonnes in 2018. Imports for consumption are also up in Pakistan, where volume has more than doubled since 2009, reaching 0.19 million tonnes in 2018 (mainly black tea). Morocco, the world’s biggest green tea importer, registered an increase of 35 percent with 0.07 million tonnes imported for consumption in 2018.

Contrasting data showed that market patterns continue to fluctuate in line with changing consumer preferences, in particular in the mature Western black tea-drinking markets, where the mainstream/mass market cups continue to be the cheapest cup per serving, compared to coffee, juices, bottled water, and dairy. With this decline becoming a persistent market feature, action was taken to reconquer throat-share and revamp the profile of tea. In the United Kingdom for example, Tetley (owned by Tata GB) offered training and teaching to tea professionals, and Russia launched the Tea Masters Cup.

Forecasts may not look satisfactory though, with Unilever, the world’s leading tea manufacturer, announcing during its fiscal year revenues and earnings report, that it is considering selling its global tea business, which includes the Lipton and PG Tips brand, both of which dominate many Western markets. This declaration, made in January with Unilever also stating that mass market black tea bags have no more future in the West, is shaking up the tea world right now. Over the last few years, Unilever has invested in the premium segment by buying Australia’s T2, the UK’s Pukka Organic Herbal tea brand, and the Tazo brand from Starbucks, thus acknowledging that the premium tea segment had important potential for the future.

Selection of standard mass-market teas. Photo courtesy of Barbara Dufrêne

Training and Education

This ties in fully with many actions undertaken by smaller tea companies and trade associations that have been investing consistently in consumer education and in-depth training of tea professionals in order to promote the fine, premium, specialty and origin teas that mainly come as leaf teas. Such efforts are gradually bringing results, with more science and research becoming available every year. Also, tea forums and conventions are promoting the many origins, botanicals and processes involved in tea, which makes the base of keen and knowledgeable consumers larger every year. Fully aware of the intrinsic and added value of these premium cups, they are happy to reach deep into their pockets for hand-picked, artisanal, organic, single estate and other specialty teas.

There are also tea lovers on the producer side, namely in China, and the overseas Chinese communities in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, who will pay extreme prices for rare and special spring picks or very famous aged Puer tea cakes. Premium teas have been ranking high on the official state gift list in China, in the same way as the former tribute teas, which, in the past, were reserved for the Emperor.

Sustainability of Lands and Workers

While tea is becoming more expensive in China, most producing countries express concern about the farm gate price levels, which are too low to allow for sustainable tea growing. This links with the fact that in most producing countries the major share of the tea volume is harvested by smallholders, who deliver the leaf to the factory and have no market access themselves, being the first but least empowered link of the supply chain.

With new areas under tea in China, and in Bangladesh, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Mozambique, where tea is introduced with the focus on poverty eradication, sustainability remains a growing concern. When and where better paid crops become available, farmers will uproot the tea bushes to improve their revenue.

The need to build a platform to take care of smallholders’ interests has become truly urgent. To support and advocate for smallholders, the Confederation of International Tea Smallholders (CITS) was established in 2018. Under the supervision of the FAO IGG Tea, the CITS will be hosted in China’s Sichuan province as a first step, but it is not yet fully operational.

In addition, rural labour is becoming scarce as many ageing farmers see their children moving to the cities, and this means that mechanisation will soon become unavoidable.

Furthermore, changing weather patterns threaten many crops including tea, which makes harvests more unpredictable and threaten farmers’ incomes. Looking towards 2030, an expected increased population and less arable land will also put a strain on the five continents’ available fields, with a preferential allocation to food-crop growing, squeezing the acreage for permanent crops, like fruit trees, vineyards, tea, coffee and cocoa. With such forecasts one can expect to move towards a small top premium market for high quality teas and a mainstream market geared towards extracts, ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and industrially processed cups.

There is clearly a need for more science, more agri-research and international cooperation to cope with these many challenges. All the big producing countries have their Tea Research Institutes (TRI) which compile a wealth of knowledge, data and experience. Increased cooperation will foster progress through cross fertilization. Eventually tea will follow the example of coffee and build more global platforms for more global operations and implementations, such as the recently launched CITS for tea smallholders.

Tea Market Evolves Amid Challenges

Consumption trends remain based on health benefits, convenience, novelty and premiumisation, with the stressed urban consumer on the constant look out for a beverage that picks you up without jitteriness, that supplies hydration and functional benefits together with authentic flavours. Good tea has no need for sugary or creamy calories, thus it is fitting to be the cup/mug or can/bottle of the younger generations. RTD teas, sparkling teas and cold brew teas are on the rise in all the developed markets, with their popularity growing steadily.

According to global market intelligence firm Euromonitor International, the top three cold tea markets today by total RTD volume are China, Japan and the USA, but the trend is spreading fast to many other markets.

Although consumption habits are changing and follow new and diversified patterns, from hot to cold, from black to green tea, from brewed to RTD, tea has positioned itself as a drink that is good for the mind and the body, with a rich cultural background. Also, the strong increase in teas blended with herbals, supplement the functionality of the beverage.

Furthermore, tea is harvested from a bush that absorbs CO2 and is considered a poverty relief crop. Recently, coffee shops in China, India and Korea, as well as in the West, have started to carry some quality teacups in response to consumer demand. This is another move that will foster more choice and open new slots for good cups out of home.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former secretary general of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@orange.fr.

The post The 2020 global tea market report appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Tea growing and drinking is deeply rooted in Korea, at least since the Golden Age of Buddhism under the Koryo Dynasty (918 to 1392) with many monasteries harvesting tea and sharing the cups with the court. This flourishing tea culture lasted over several centuries but ended abruptly with the arrival of the Choson Dynasty, which reigned over Korea from 1392 to 1910.

The new rulers abandoned Buddhism as the state religion and adopted Confucian ways instead. Consequently, the monks moved quietly to the south of the peninsula, hiding away from the new power, taking their teas with them, and continuing to grow tea bushes, persimmon trees and lotus plants, all of them vital contributors to their concept of healthy living. A cultural revival of tea came through Buddhist monk Cho Ui (1786 to 1866), who lived as hermit in Daehung Temple and is still venerated as “Tea Saint” today.

The Choson Dynasty was overthrown by the Japanese who invaded Korea and annexed the country between 1910 and 1945. In order to improve their domestic supply, the Japanese launched intensive tea planting in the southern province, which are thriving again. Agonizing through the Korean War, the peninsula was finally divided into North and South Korea in 1953, with a communist regime in the North still in place today and military rule in the South lasting until 1987. Many historians report the incredible sufferings endured by the Korean people throughout the 20th century before gradually recovering and moving towards a highly efficient market economy in the Republic of Korea.

Buddhist Tea Traditions vs Western Coffee Craze

Today, the long history of tea in Korea, with its ups and downs spanning more than a thousand years, has turned into the basis for a successful revival of the peninsula’s continental tea-growing areas. Furthermore, a fully new tea region was created in the mid-1970s on Jeju Island, by farsighted Mr Seo Sung-Hwan, founder of Amore Pacific Corporation, the leading player in Korea’s cosmetics industry. With a land area of only 100,400km² (38,750 sq m) South Korea is one of the world’s most densely populated countries, with about half of its 51.7 million inhabitants living in the capital Seoul and the surrounding urban conglomeration. There seems to be a true gap between the older generations, who remember the hardships of occupation and war and cling to Buddhist traditions, and the millennials who were born with the booming economy and digital media and are keen on Western ways.

Over the past ten years, Western coffee habits, firmly driven by iconic Starbucks Coffee, have spread to the Asian markets, leaving tea consumption far behind. Although many Koreans are still tea drinkers at home, they go to the thousands of coffee shops for socialising. South Korea boasts 4,900 coffee shops with 1,800 of them in Seoul, per data by research firm Statista. Recently, however, Starbucks has introduced some Teavana teas and the local coffee chain Twosome Place has entered a partnership with Singapore’s TWG Tea, adding a selection of fine teas to meet consumer demand. Flavoured and blended teas, marketed by other foreign luxury brands like Mariage Frères or Thés Christine Dattner Paris, have also carved out their market niche. Recently, young consumers have started to queue for Taiwanese bubble teas, one of the latest trends.

According to Mina Choo, a professor at Gwangju’s Nambu University and initiator of the annual Boseong Tea Festival, the main trends for tea consumption in Korea today appear to be:

• On one side, premium profile, novelty blends and flavourful recipes provided mainly by several foreign brands;
• On the other side, local traditional terroir quality, health benefits and convenience, provided mainly by the domestic tea industry.

Discovering South Korea’s Fine Teas

Total tea output in 2018 stood at about 5,000 metric tonnes, according to the International Tea Committee, based in London, England. Although this shows a growth of 26 percent over the past 10 years, the volume remains below 0.1 percent of the world tea production. The total acreage for tea planting has remained stable at just under 4,000 hectares, more than half being located on Jeju Island.

Koreans are mainly green tea producers, using both the Japanese steaming and the Chinese pan- frying process. There is also some excellent black tea made in both Boseong and Hadong tea gardens and the manufacturing of green tea powder is also growing. Furthermore, some traditional teas, like ddok cha, a compressed dark tea, can be stored for a long time, and there are the many herbal teas that are grown for medicinal purpose, and sometimes blended with genuine camellia leaves.

The tea plants in Korea are from the camellia sinensis var sinensis type with a major share belonging to the Yabukita varietal brought from Japan to the Boseong region. There are also tea plant varietals that have been grown from the wild tea bushes around Jirisan, which were brought to the Korean peninsula by Buddhist monks travelling home from China from the 8th century onwards.

The quality grades for fine green and black leaf are derived mainly from the picking periods, which follow the Chinese lunar calendar. The best leaf are the early spring picks, called Woojeon, followed by Sejak in the later spring, by Joongjak in the summer, and the last one being the autumn harvest, called Daejak.

The tea-growing areas are all in the south west and close to the sea, thus benefitting from fresh and cool air. The most ancient tea plantations are located around Mount Jiri/Jirisan and the Hadong area, where the former tea cultivation, abandoned through politico-cultural changes, has yielded thousands of wild tea bushes grown spontaneously from the seeds, and left there to thrive in the forests for centuries. Here, some small family tea farms have revived traditional tea-making ways and are now hand-crafting some green and black premium teas, making exquisite and outstanding cups, tiny volumes and hefty prices, but treasured by Western tea lovers.

The Boseong tea fields, south of Gwangju, were created by Japanese occupants, with the purpose of supplying the Japanese home market. They are located in a beautifully scenic surrounding and about a six hour drive from Seoul. Some of them are even open for tourism and as an introduction to tea production. There are many small producers in this area, who grow about one third of the country’s teas, and many of them are already certified organic, with all the Boseong teas having obtained Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) since 2005. Boseong county has also established the Korean Tea Museum, which opened its doors in 2015 and attracts many Korean and foreign visitors. According to chief tea judge, Professor Park Keun-Hyung, himself also owner of a tea garden, most of the tea companies in this area have created premium brands with beautiful packaging. This is for selling the hand-picked early season teas, whereas the coarser later leaves are usually mechanically harvested and sold to the bought-leaf factories for making quality tea bags for the mainstream market.

Jeju Island, half way between Japan and Korea, in the Korea Strait, is the newest tea area, with planting having started in the mid-1970s. Designed from the beginning for high yield, state of the art industrial processing and mechanical harvesting, the volcanic soil, flat fields and tropical climate offer ideal growing conditions. As part of the Amore Pacific Corp these teas further benefit from smooth commercial logistics and some English-speaking staff, which enables access to the international market.

With significant volume at hand, most of Korea’s tea exports originate from Jeju under the O’Sulloc or Seokwang brand.

Focus on Promotion and Visibility

Since 2014, the Korean tea trade tea has run a professional expo in Seoul’s big convention centre, COEX, and there is also an important annual Tea Festival organized in Gwangju. Both are inviting domestic and foreign players and try to attract buyers and tea-sourcing people from all over the world.

In 2018, a delegation from Boseong attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was a tremendous experience thanks to the assistance of Sharyn Johnston, the founder of Australian Teamasters. Johnston also started the first Korea Tea Travel for tea professionals in 2018, after having successfully launched a Korean Breakfast Blend, made from organic teas harvested by 12 small but award-winning Boseong tea farmers.

As tea drinking is gradually becoming more casual, with more good cups now available in coffee shops, consumption is rising, and the younger generations are starting to care more for their home-grown cups. RTD teas and coffees are widely available in convenience stores, supermarkets and vending machines. Also, matcha-type tea powders are gaining ground, with good quality and many organic labels becoming more widely available.

With the mix of ladies wearing the traditional Hanbok garments, monks and nuns in Buddhist religious outfits and young people in Western style dress mingling in the street, it is obvious that the social blending continues. Tea seems to be on the rise with both the traditional and the innovative cups getting increased consumer attention. With the gaps narrowing year by year, the outlook for tea is bright.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former secretary general of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@ora

The post South Korea’s fine teas aim to attract Western consumers appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

The Indochina peninsula has been home to many important Buddhist kingdoms governed by royal dynasties before being divided into British and French colonial rule in the 19th century, with only the Kingdom of Siam preserving its royal independence until today. After gaining independence and establishing their national borders, some of these new states faced decades of civil war and ethnic strife, which have hampered growth and economic development.

Today, the six states covering this area of Southeast Asia are: The Republic of the Union of Myanmar (still called Burma by some governments); the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly known as Siam); the Laos People’s Democratic Republic; the Kingdom of Cambodia; the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; and the Federal Constitutional Monarchy of Malaysia.

All have tea-growing areas, with Vietnam now ranking sixth in the world in terms of production. But it is the newcomers Thailand, Myanmar and Laos that attract interest today, with their significant potential for bringing increased volumes of quality teas to the market.

Thailand

With its tropical, fertile plains stretching south to the Gulf of Thailand, and its cool forests in the northern mountains, Thailand has abundant agricultural lands to feed its population of 67 million living on the kingdom’s surface of 514,000 km². Looking at a map, it is easy to see that Chiang Rai Province in the north, which borders both Laos and Myanmar, joins the foothills of the Sino-Tibetan mountain range, which is considered to be the cradle of the tea trees, the big leaf, ie assamica variety. In ancient times the leaf was harvested from the tea tree forest and chewed, not brewed.

Current tea production, however, was introduced only in the middle of the past century, when soldiers from the Kuomintang’s lost army, who could not return to Communist China, were allowed to settle in this area. They were part of the Doi Tung cultivation project, initiated by members of the Royal family, with the purpose to replace poppy farming for opium by perennial and clean crops, with a strong focus on tea. These military veterans were later joined by Chinese families migrating from close by Yunnan province, bringing along a lot of tea knowledge.

High level assistance was also provided to these lost soldiers of the Chinese nationalist army by the Taiwan Tea Research Institute, who offered scientific advice and botanical material, which resulted in a consistent commercial growing of high quality wulong teas. The similarities of soil and climate between Taiwan’s central mountain range and the Northern Thailand misty mountain area around Doi Tung and Doi Mae Salong, have allowed several Taiwanese cultivars to adjust extremely well. Over the years these teas have developed a specific terroir fragrance and have become highly demanded by Thai consumers as well as for the export market.

The local wild tea forests that continue to be harvested by the ethnic minorities have also yielded plant material for commercial tea plantations, which produce genuine Thai black and green teas.

During a recent tea convention, Dr Dittawat Steven Kaewkarnjanadit, chairman of the Tea and Chinese Culture Association of Thailand, made 2016 tea market data available:

• Tea production amounted to 52,620 metric tonnes (mt), of which 59 percent were harvested in Chiang Rai province.
• 82 percent of the tea produced is harvested from the camellia sinensis var assamica plants and 18 percent from the camellia sinensis var sinensis.

He also indicated that close to 19,000 mt of the teas were made into ‘chewing teas,’ an ancient and local way of using the leaves, which are steamed and rolled into ball-shaped pieces that are chewed for releasing the tannins, caffeine and other beneficial and tasty molecules to be ingested into the body.

During the Tea and Coffee Science International Symposium, organized by Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai in July 2019 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Thai Tea Institute, the issues of production improvements were discussed, together with ways of attracting more consumer interest, such as by means of ‘tea tourist tours’, in order to improve the awareness of fine Thai teas in the global market.

Myanmar

By far the biggest nation in southeast Asia with a land area of 677,000 km² and an estimated population of 56 million people, Myanmar or Burma has endured a long period of internal strife and military regime after independence from British rule in 1948. Tea is endemic in the north in Shan State. There, Myanmar shares borders with Thailand, Laos and China, thus accessing some parts of the ancient tea-tree forests, which constitute the cradle of the tea trees.

These main areas, where both wild trees and commercially grown bushes are harvested (mapped out by Will Battle in his monumental World Tea Encyclopedia), are located in the districts of Kokang, Kyaukme and Bhamo. Given the variety of plant material and the combination of traditional local and cross border Chinese processing ways, the offer is wide and one can find fine steamed green teas, some delicate white teas made from spring buds, as well as roasted green teas together with good black leaf tea and even some black CTC.

According to data provided by the Myanmar Tea Association (MTA) located in Mandalay, and via the chairperson Nyo Nyo Sein, as published by the International Tea Committee, Myanmar’s total tea production in 2017 amounted to 21,000 mt. This volume has virtually been the same for many years and it is shared out as follows: approximately 40 percent for pickled tea, 40 percent for green teas and 20 percent for black teas. Pickled tea, called Lahpet, is a preparation of steamed tea leaves made into a spicy dish, that is part of the daily food and provides all the benefits of tea to young and old in the plate, maybe in a somewhat similar way to the Thai chewing tea.

Most ‘tea travellers’ and those involved in tea sourcing consider Myanmar’s potential for growing more high quality teas as being significant. The availability of vast remote mountain areas with ideal climate conditions and which are by nature destined for organic cultivation is a major advantage. Appropriate finance and training investment could yield very attractive results, once the political environment has become inviting and fully secured.

Laos

This small and landlocked country with a surface of 237,000km² and less than seven million people is one of the poorest nations in the world, where several ethnic minorities share their true treasure, which is one of the richest wildlife on the globe. With high mountains and high plateaus mostly covered by original forests, Laos has a huge array of exceptional and completely unspoiled scenic landscapes. Gradually opening to foreign tourists since 1997, travellers have become a major source of income and are attracting investments for developing basic infrastructure to alleviate poverty.

Like its neighbours, Laos stretches from the northern mountain areas to the south, sharing long borders with Thailand to the west and Vietnam to the east. The geographical setup of the new nation at independence in 1949 confirmed the integration of Phongsali province into its lands, a territory that juts like a finger into China’s Yunnan, where it had belonged until 1885.

Hence, Laos also has access to part of the original tea tree forests areas, which is not only a valuable bonus for the local minorities but has been opening perspectives for some premium tea market niche operators. These old tea trees grow on steep hillsides and above an altitude of 1,400m; the very hardy pickings yield small crops of distinctive quality.

According to Will Battle, there are some spring plucks, which are made into artisanal white tea through a very careful shade drying of at least two days, and which offer a unique cup experience. There is also green, dark and black tea in Phongsali, made from old tree stock as well as from the first commercial plantations grown from their saplings, and which confirm the rich potential of the this very special tea terroir.

More commercial tea growing has been introduced in the south of Laos in recent years, in Champassak province, on the Boloven plateau, using the small leaf, ie, sinensis variety and industrial processing. There are no data available, but most Laos tea travellers agree, that there is room for much more volume, provided that better infrastructure and more training will motivate the local populations through more rewarding prices.

One may conclude from the above that there is a vast potential for valorising these ancient tea tree areas. After having been harvested for over two millennium by the local cottage industries in the Indochina peninsula, the outlook for developing the output of more good teas is bright.

There is also the issue of the “no name” sales that go to China, often on the jungle paths, from Laos, from Vietnam and Myanmar, and which demonstrate the high quality of these artisanal teas from unspoiled areas. Attracting attention to these untraditional teas, will hopefully bring more investment, better market access, and hence, more revenue to these rural tea villagers.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former Secretary General of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@orange.fr.

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