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In Part 2 of this extended Newsmaker Interview, Aravinda Anantharaman speaks with Tea Board of India Chairman Prabhat Bezboruah who describes a new board mission to increase consumption, promote tea exports and expand markets at home and overseas. He also addresses discussions underway to transfer regulatory oversight of India’s tea industry from the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Read more…

India Initiates Tea Industry Reforms

By Aravinda Anantharaman

India’s highest levels of government are reforming the basic structure of agriculture. The intent is to loosen regulations on pricing and storage and to permit direct sales of produce. The rules have protected India’s farmers from the free market for decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the reforms a “watershed moment” for Indian agriculture. Opposition by farmers has been so intense that Modi announced in November that the government will abandon the September 2020 reforms. Will tea reforms go forward? In this Newsmaker Interview Prabhat Bezboruah, Chairman of the Tea Board of India describes a new board mission to increase consumption, promote tea exports and expand markets at home and overseas. He also addresses discussions underway to transfer regulatory oversight of India’s tea industry from the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Listen to the interview (Part 2)

Listen to the interview (Part 1)

News

Glasgow Climate Pact Boosts Morale, but Will Momentum Build?

By Dan Bolton

The Glasgow Climate Pact constructively addresses issues critical to the tea industry both for brands and producers. The document also advances efforts to end deforestation and to phase down (not phase-out) coal.

COP26 brought into line the four largest polluters when India announced plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2070. India is the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. China announced it will be carbon neutral by 2060 and both the US and EU reaffirmed their commitment to reach net-zero by 2050. 

The pact makes concrete tools to curb warming and establishes new rules to hold countries accountable for curbing emissions but falls short of financing efforts in less developed countries. The pact also leaves unresolved how much and how quickly each nation will cut emissions. Delegates returned to their homelands demonstrating greater cohesion and consensus that every nation must do more before the 2022 summit.

Tea brands welcome rules to encourage trade emission-reduction credits and prevent double-counting and wording that allows carbon-market credits from decades past (Kyoto Protocols).

The agreement advances the Paris Accords but pledges made by 197 countries are unlikely to contain atmospheric temperatures at less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above their pre-industrial levels. Scientists estimate that close adherence to pledges may limit global warming to around 2.4 degrees Celsius.  Others say temperatures will increase by 2.7 degrees Celsius.

Warming to either level will wreak havoc in the tea lands. Degrading tea quality and reduction in yield are already apparent in three regional hotspots.

South India is one of the hotspots where tea production is threatened along with the Rift Valley in Africa and portions of China.

Biz Insight – Many of the 74 nations where tea is produced find it difficult to finance climate mitigation efforts at the farm level. Unresolved at this year’s summit are concrete steps by developed countries to make good on a $100 billion a year promise made in 2009 to assist poor nations. Contributions in 2019 were $30 billion short and $50 billion of what was pledged is directed at mitigation with much less earmarked to finance adaptations. In Glasgow, delegates asked that countries “at least double” to $40 billion the money committed to financing adaptations making possible construction of clean energy alternatives to coal and wood.

In-person Judging Returns for the 2021 Golden Leaf Awards

By Jessica Natale Woollard

Australia’s Golden Leaf Awards return in 2021 with live, in-person judging to crown this year’s best teas in the Australian market. Tea submissions are open until Nov. 30. View the award guidebook for more information.

The Golden Leaf Awards are presented by the Australia Tea Masters and feature a number of categories: green, black, white, yellow teas; matcha; Pu-erh; herbals; chai; and iced tea. There’s even a category for tea packaging and best tea house.

The judging is blind and done by industry professionals. Learn more…

Australia Tea Masters founder and CEO Sharyn Johnston speaks with Tea Biz’s Jessica Natale Woollard about this year’s event.

Listen to the interview

Tea and Coffee Drinkers are Less Likely to Suffer Strokes

A decade-long study of 365,000 people suggests that tea and coffee drinkers are 32% less likely to suffer a stroke when compared to nondrinkers.

Results of the UK Biobank study, initiated in 2006 and continued through 2020, were reported this week in the online journal PLOS Medicine. The authors write that “while previous studies have looked at associations between tea and coffee consumption and better brain health, there has been inconsistency in findings.” 

“Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia,” writes lead author and Professor Yuan Zhang at Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.

Associating tea and coffee drinking with better health outcomes does not guarantee that the same outcome will happen for everyone, according to a review of the research published by Medicine Net.

Professor Zhang said it is also possible that coffee and tea consumption might be protective against dementia and post-stroke dementia. Strokes cause 10% of deaths globally, and those who survive often experience post-stroke dementia. People who have had a stroke have a far greater risk of developing dementia than people who have not had a stroke. About 1 in 4 who have had a stroke will go on to develop signs of vascular dementia, according to WebMD. In the US vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.

Drinking coffee or tea – even in very small amounts – lowered the risk for both strokes and dementia.

Researchers cite weakness in that study participants were in better health than the population as a whole, and that the participants are mainly white and British (96%) “therefore we cannot infer an association that is relevant to everyone in the UK.” Learn more…

Biz Insight – Drinking two to three cups of coffee or three to five cups of tea daily (or in combination) led to a 28% lower risk of dementia compared with those who do not drink tea or coffee. Researchers say that around 40 years of age, the immune system starts to decline. As people age, they experience a form of chronic low-grade inflammation. Experts have linked this kind of age-related inflammation to dementia and cognitive decline. The worldwide population of those aged 60 years and over will grow to 2.1 billion by 2050 according to the United Nations. Rates of dementia are expected to increase alongside this aging population, according to Medical News Today. 

– Dan Bolton

• Read more… links indicate the article continues. Learn more… links to additional information from reliable outside sources.

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November 2021

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Features

Tea Biz this week travels to India where the traditional tea plantation model is under regulatory scrutiny. The union government there is redrafting legislation from the 1950s to gradually loosen regulations, abandoning requirements that previously limited who could grow tea and where it could be grown. In Part 1 of this extended Newsmaker Interview, Aravinda Anantharaman speaks with Tea Board of India Chairman Prabhat Bezboruah to better understand the current situation and the economic and societal forces driving change.

India Tea Reforms: Challenges and the Current Situation

By Aravinda Anantharaman

The Tea Board of India has been in the news recently for various reforms that seem to be underway. We spoke to Prabhat Bezboruah Chairman of the Tea Board of India to understand the changes that are brewing with the board as well as his views on how the Indian tea industry is faring this year. Bezboruah has been chairman since 2017. An alumnus of IIM Calcutta and the Wharton School of Business, he is the first tea planter to hold the position. Read more…

Listen to the interview (Part 1)

• Next week, in Part 2 of India Reform: Tea Market Expansion, Prabhat Bezboruah discusses high-level talks on transferring regulatory oversight of India’s Tea Industry from the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

News

Ekaterra Tea Pledges Net Zero Emissions by 2030 at COP26

By Dan Bolton

Ekaterra Tea, Unilever’s newly-created division of legacy tea brands and the world’s largest tea supplier, pledged this week to reduce carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030.

The division, led by CEO John Davison, announced sustainability and climate goals during a panel discussion with several NGOs deeply committed to the sustainability of the tea industry. During a press briefing on Nov. 8, Davison reiterated the company’s commitment to 100% sustainably sourced teas, a switch to all plant-based tea bags, and recyclable, compostable, or reusable packaging by 2025 along with the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices for raw materials sourcing by 2030.

Davison said, “We want to give back to nature more than we take. To sustain is to reduce the drain on the planet’s resources, which is a good start, but at ekaterra, we want to go beyond this. In the tea category, we have a unique opportunity to become climate positive through the regenerative power of plants.”

Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 66% since 2010, said Davison who promised a further reduction to 80% from the 2010 baseline. Ekaterra owns Lipton, PG Tips, TAZO, Brooke Bond, Lyons, Pukka, and Red Rose  —  the leading tea brands in 58 of the 110 countries where its portfolio of 34 products is sold. Ekaterra has a staff of 3,500 in 90 offices and employs 1 million people in 21 countries earning 2 billion Euros annually (about $2.3 billion in US dollars).

“Real leadership today, means mobilizing and transforming the entire tea industry for positive impact,” said Davison.

The announcement benefitted from global attention on COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland where an unexpected climate agreement between the US and China added to the momentum for change. Delegates are negotiating an accelerated carbon emissions-cutting schedule and financial aid to developing countries. Scientists stressed the importance of keeping global temperatures within a 1.5 degrees Celsius target.

Copious amounts of tea were visible during the event. At one point, protestors dressed as caricatures of world leaders staged a tea party-themed performance where they were served “burnt Alaska” and “Arctic melt.” 

Biz Insight – There was a greater sense of urgency during the two-week summit. “Everyone knows what is at stake for the future, we have no choice but to rise to that challenge,” COP26 President Alok Sharma told delegates. The UN’s 26th Conference of the Parties, delayed by a year due to COVID, promises a renewed commitment to climate change in the most important response since the Paris Agreement. Learn more…

The Desirability of Sustainability

By Dan Bolton

Are grocery shoppers willing to compensate suppliers for the additional cost of producing goods that are good for the environment?

The answer is “Yes” according to a global panel of 86,000 consumers conducted by YouGov, a UK-based online market research firm.

“Sustainability – both in terms of production and consumption – is top of mind for many consumers globally,” according to YouGov data journalist Hoang Nguyen.

As governments worldwide sign accords to battle climate change, reduce carbon emissions, and look after the planet’s health, “consumers are also inclined to playing their part in helping preserve the environment and are willing to back their personal values with their spending dollars,” according to YouGov.

YouGov’s International FMCG/CPG Report 2021 compares shifts in consumer preferences and consumption patterns in 17 countries. 

When queried on their willingness to pay more to address environmental concerns, only responses from persons identified as mainly or partly responsible for grocery shopping for their household (grocery shoppers) were tallied. Globally, three in five German grocery shoppers (60%) were willing to pay more to address environmental concerns. Next were US grocery shoppers at (58%), closely followed by UK grocery shoppers at 57%. More than half of grocery shoppers in Australia (53%) showed a similar inclination. 

In Japan, feelings are mixed. Only three in ten grocery shoppers agree with the statement: “I don’t mind paying more for products that are good for the environment.” 42% of this audience neither agree nor disagree with the statement.

Biz Insight –  The YouGov panel indicated that in the UK and the US, Gen Z and millennial grocery shoppers were far likelier than older age cohorts to say they would pay more for sustainable products. Learn more…

Inflation Demonstrates Troubling Persistence

Dismissed initially as “transitory” economists responded with concern this week as an increase in the US cost of living touched a 30-year high. 

Inflation increased to 6.2% in October, growing at a pace not seen since 1990, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation was more subdued in the European Union at 4.1% last month, up from 3.4% in September. 

US food prices added far less to the overall cost of living than energy costs, for example, which rose by 30% in the past year but food inflation has spiked globally. Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise due to weather-related flooding and droughts and more expensive inputs.  Bloomberg writes that a United Nations Index tracking staples rose 3% to a fresh decade high in October, threatening even higher grocery bills for households that have already been strained by the pandemic. 

Tea is plentiful. Rising prices for bulk transactions are blamed on energy costs, shipping logistics, and expensive ground transport – not scarcity. The cost of labor climbed steeply in 2021 at both ends of the supply chain along with costs for manufacturing packaged goods (CPG). In the tea lands, worsening hunger is a concern as Africa and India experience multi-year highs. National governments and aid groups report the poorest families are struggling. The World Bank reports that global poverty had been declining before COVID-19. “As a result of long-term scarring, we estimate that by 2030, 588 million people could still live in extreme poverty, an additional 50 million people compared with pre-COVID-19 estimates.”

– Dan Bolton

• Read more… links indicate the article continues. Learn more… links to additional information from reliable outside sources.

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Upcoming Events

November 2021

Iraq Tea Festival | Nov. 28-29 | Baghdad Chamber of Commerce
Baghdad, Iraq |

Click to view more upcoming events.

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