• Easing COVID Restrictions Leads to Uncertainty in China’s Tea Industry

    Tea pluckers in China practice COVID distancing during the 2020 harvest

    Tea News for the week ending January 6

    Podcast Episode 98

    Millions of urban Chinese will return to their ancestral homes in rural China to celebrate the Lunar New Year, raising concerns about outbreaks and possible labor shortages in tea-growing regions as the spring harvest begins.

    The end of China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy is returning vitality to the travel, outbound tourism, restaurant and catering, and entertainment sectors, all of which benefit tea sales. But easing track-and-trace rules also enabled consumers to circulate, leading to a steep incline in viral infections.

    | The World’s Top Black Tea Producers Report Export Declines in 2022

    Export volume in Kenya and Sri Lanka, two of the world’s top three black tea-exporting countries, declined in 2022. Data is preliminary, and the reasons vary as weather, geopolitics, and pandemic-induced economic setbacks resulted in another lackluster year for trading tea.

    | What do We Value about tea, and How Do We Value It? Speakers at the 8th Annual day-long, in-person Global Tea Initiative Colloquium on Jan. 19 at the University of California, Davis, will discuss Tea and Value. Register free at globaltea.ucdavis.edu

    | PLUS Grace Farms is introducing a line of ethically and sustainably sourced teas that co-founder and CEO Adam Thatcher says will give back 100% of profits to help end forced labor worldwide – forever. According to Thatcher, “even though slavery was abolished globally nearly a century ago, more than 28 million people are trapped in forced labor worldwide. Poverty and lack of access to education create opportunities for those who stand to benefit from the exploitation of vulnerable men, women, and children. In modern times forced labor takes the form of work with little to no pay, fear and coercion, and restricted freedom of movement.

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  • UNESCO Honors and Safeguards Tea Cultures in China, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan

    Tea pluckers harvesting raw leaf in Türkiye carry traditional baskets

    Tea News for the week ending December 2

    Podcast Episode 95

    UNESCO Inscribes Tea Traditions China, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

    The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) annually recognizes cultural practices and traditional crafts worthy of safeguarding. On Dec. 1, UNESCO named two tea traditions to the list, citing traditional Chinese tea processing techniques that “entail knowledge, skills, and practices around tea plantation management, tea-leaf picking, and manual processing. These are passed on through families and apprenticeships, including by tea producers, farmers, and artists, as well as those who make the pastries that are typically served with tea.”

    UNESCO also inscribed the Culture of Çay (tea), “a symbol of identity, hospitality, and social interaction.” In a joint application submitted in March 2021, Azerbaijan and Türkiye described their tea culture as “an essential part of social and cultural life and an important social practice aiming to show hospitality, celebrate important moments in the lives of communities and help them to build and maintain social relationships and enjoy moments by drinking tea for social exchange and interaction.

    | Black Friday Lives Up to its Name as US shoppers set in-store and online sales records

    | Australian Study Shows Elderly Women Benefit from Tea Flavonoids

    | PLUS Tea Biz travels to Tucson, Arizona, for the grand opening of a 2200 sq. ft. combination tea shop, tearoom, warehouse, and online fulfillment center. Andrew McNeill, Business Development Director at Seven Cups Fine Chinese Tea, says that stay-at-home tea drinkers experimenting with specialty teas are eager to share the experience of tea discovery face-to-face.

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  • Pricing Tea in a Slogging Economy

    Tea News for the week ending November 4

    Podcast Episode 91

    Indicators Suggest a Recession is Imminent

    Carman Allison, vice president of thought leadership at Nielsen IQ in Toronto, describes the unusual combination of slow growth and job gains set against rising interest rates and sharply higher inflation as a “consumer recession.”

    “We are all trained to understand that you need two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction for a country to be officially in a recession. But we also know that by the time that actually happens, a lot of the economy is already in a recession,” he explains.

    | The International Tea Academy Awards its First “Leafies”
    | Sales of Herbal Infusions are Expected to Double this Decade

    | PLUS Canadian Economist Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, sees a lot of positives for the tea industry but cautioned that inflation is an economic disease that will linger. Supply chain challenges remain. He said the macro-dynamics around commodities are getting more complicated, adding, “The fall is not going to be an easy one.”

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  • Sri Lanka Tea Sector Opposes Doubling Corporate Tax Rate

    Joydeep Phukan, Principal Officer and Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association

    Tea News for the week ending October 28

    Podcast Episode 90

    To qualify for an IMF bailout bankrupt government must collect more revenue

    The proposed increase to a maximum of 30% from 24% of earnings is needed to qualify for a $2.9 billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The only sector earning significant foreign exchange revenue is Sri Lanka’s tea industry. Production is down by 20%, but growers are getting record prices at auction. The tea sector generated $819 million during the first eight months and is on track to earn around $1.2 billion, comparable to the $1.3 billion in 2021 exports. In an open letter published Oct. 17,  the Tea Export Association “earnestly requests the government to maintain the concessionary corporate income tax rate of 14% for the tea sector for its long-term sustainability, which will ultimately bring in much higher growth dividends for the economy.”

    | Vietnamese Tea Exports Experience Slow Decline

    Vietnamese tea exports declined sharply during COVID and have yet to recover. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, tea exports are down 6.4% by volume to 54,000 metric tons through June 2022. Revenue from tea exports was $94 million, which is 1.3% lower than during the same period last year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade estimated annual revenue from tea exports averaged $173.2 million during the years 2016-2020. At that time, Vietnam accounted for 2.4% of the global value of tea exports.

    | Kenya to Expand its Orthodox Tea Capability

    Kenya’s new administration is investing millions in its tea sector to generate jobs and boost foreign exchange. Two weeks ago, President William Ruto announced that the government would construct a modern tea processing and packaging facility in Mombasa. Simultaneously the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) asked the government for Ksh800 million ($6 million) to expand production lines at 10 of its 12 orthodox tea factories. KTDA currently produces five million kilos of high-value specialty tea.

    | PLUS Joydeep Phukan, the Principal Officer and Secretary of India’s Tea Research Association, discusses a standards update to better align good practices with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Growers worldwide adhere to the Tocklai Tea Research Institute’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards. Introduced in September, the new standards will be fully implemented in January 2023.

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  • AVPA Names Teas of the World Winners

    Teas of the World Judge Carin Baudry

    Tea News for the week ending October 21

    Podcast Episode 89

    Contest entries increased by 21% to more than 300, including several from less well-known tea-growing origins

    Competitors earned 25 Gourmet Gold, 36 Silver, and 34 Bronze medals last week in Paris’s 5th Teas of the World International Contest. The competition awarded 95 medals in two broad categories: Monovarietal Teas and Infusions, Blends, and Scented Teas. Taiwan collectively dominated the Camellia Sinensis categories, earning eight of 17 gold medals. Chinese growers earned four gold medals, followed by Vietnam with two.

    Click to view Monovarietal Winners | Infusions and Blends Winners

    | India Lifts Tea Blending Ban

    Tea tensions between Nepal and India eased somewhat this week as India lifted a ban on blending Nepali tea imports with domestically grown Darjeeling.

    | Low Green Leaf Prices Distress Assam Smallholders

    Growers on small tea farms in Assam must now pay wages equal to those at the largest commercial gardens. In August, the Assam government announced a 27 rupee increase in the minimum daily wage to 232 rupees. Workers, mainly women, who pluck 24 kilos of tea (about 50 pounds a day) will now earn about 9.5 rupees for every kilo plucked. Read this in-depth report by Assam correspondent Roopak Goswami.

    | PLUS Nishchal Banskota, the founder of the Nepal Tea Collective, shares his vision of a public benefit corporation that shifts the focus to creating value for every stakeholder in tea – not just shareholders.

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