Better Business Insights
Retail must do the heavy lifting in realigning the marketing of Indian tea. While online transactions are more common now than in past years, neighborhood kirana stores are the most common place Indians purchase packaged tea, accounting for 70% of sales. Only 7% of tea is sold at tea shops that specialize in loose leaf offerings.
When you look back, let’s say 30, 40 years, what has changed in the tea market? That’s the question we need to ask. The image of tea has not changed at all. And that, I think, is the basis of many problems. – Jagjeet Kandal, IDH
Rising temperatures threaten tea yields and force growers to consider planting “upslope” at higher elevations where cooler temperatures prevail. Unfortunately, subtropical tea cultivars perish in a hard frost, expected above 7,500 feet. At Ukraine’s Zhornyna tea farm Maksym Malygin is successfully growing plants under forest cover that have survived heavy snow during prolonged winters at temperatures 26 below zero Celsius.
In 2021, Sri Lanka launched a ₹4.5 billion global promotion to increase the export volume and value of Ceylon tea, a billion dollar brand. The campaign targets 12 markets, including the UK, EU, Asia, and North America. In parallel, the board is pursuing a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union.
Tea entrepreneurs organize into collectives and supply raw leaf to mini factories operated by local Tea Producer Companies owned by growers.