• Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 19

    Tea Biz Podcast Logo

    Hear the Headlines

    | Tea History Collection Unveiled
    | Indian Commodities Logjam
    | THIRST Undertakes a Tea Human Rights Analysis
    | A Series of Major Quakes Rattle Yunnan

    Seven-minute News Recap

    India Tea Price Watch | Sale 19

    Features

    Tea Biz this week travels to Nepal to meet Aasha Bhandari the newly named International Trade and Promotion Executive at the Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative

    …and to the North Carolina campus of Wake Forest University to learn from student William Liu why ancient teas and rituals retain their appeal with young people.

    Nepal Tea Garden
    Nepal is expanding the country’s tea growing regions to produce more specialty loose leaf tea.

    Himalaya Tea Opportunity

    Nepal Increases Production of Quality Specialty Teas

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Bengaluru

    Nepal’s tea industry reported record sales in 2020. The fabled tea land is growing greater quantities and greater varieties of loose and broken leaf teas thanks to a government-initiated expansion of the industry to high altitude gardens in non-traditional growing areas. Rural agrarian entrepreneurs are redefining offerings for an international market thirsty for the distinct taste of Himalayan grown oolongs, white teas, and premium black whole leaf. In this segment Aasha Bhandari, newly named to promote trade at the Himalayan Tea Producers Cooperative, discusses her plans for HIMCOOP.

    Read more…

    Aasha Bhandari discusses Nepal’s tea industry in transition.
    William Liu
    College sophomore William Liu founded the World Tea Association and To Tea Together podcast.

    Why Ancient Tea Appeals to Young People

    By Dan Bolton

    William Liu is a 20-year-old sophomore at Wake Forest University so inspired by tea that he and his classmates established the World Tea Association on campus and online. The group offers tea discovery and tasting sessions weekly and hosts occasional tea panels with presentations by tea professionals, tea scholars, and tea explorers. The events bring together many who are new to tea, says William “we aim to redefine the tea experience through an interdisciplinary approach and expose the true leaf to a greater audience.”

    In this discussion he describes why tea appeals to young people and explains his view that tea learning is ongoing. “The tea journey has no destination, he says, it involves only intention and lifelong learning.”

    Read more…

    William Liu on advancing our knowledge of the leaf.

    Tea News you Need to Know

    By Dan Bolton

    An extensive private collection of historical tea artifacts and modern facilities for meetings and tea research were unveiled on International Tea Day by Tea Ambassador Mike Bunston, OBE.

    The Tea History Collection, located in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the DCS Group complex, is the inspired work of entrepreneur Denys Shortt, OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). The facility, valued at £100,000 ($140,000) is open by appointment to tea-related organizations and academia. It is equipped with a tasting bar, high-speed internet, archive cabinets, a video-conference room and work areas.

    Shortt, who founded DCS in 1994, grew up on a tea estate in Assam. His family worked at gardens there for 20 years before moving to Africa where his father managed the Ikumbi Tea Factory in Thika, Kenya.

    “We do not believe there is anything like this in the world,” says Shortt. “We have items from Plantation House (now demolished) which was where the London Tea Auctions were held.” The collection of more than 500 items includes teas, books,  and sample cabinet with 200 tins containing teas dating to 1904. The collection will be maintained as a non-profit.

    Learn more….

    Commodities Logjam

    Fifty thousand in West Bengal are homeless this week due to a tropical cyclone that halted air traffic and port activity in Calcutta. Every link of India’s tea supply chain is under stress. Restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 are once again limiting the number of harvest workers in the gardens and reducing by half staffing at factories processing tea, while simultaneously forcing the cancellation of tea auctions… delaying transport and causing local warehouses to overflow.

    Truckers essential to transporting tea were virtually halted last year and while many delivering to cities face delays due to curfews that prevent unloading at night, local transport is much less problematic in 2021.

    The weak link in the commodities supply chain during the second wave are buyers who cannot easily judge what quantities are required for manufacturers and to meet varying retail demand. For example, Kochi-based spices trader Kishor Shamji told the Hindu Businessline that a lack of buying interest from masala manufacturers in upcountry markets has affected the sales of almost all spices, including pepper, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Meanwhile, traders worry that the tea they purchase to send overseas will experience costly shipping fees and delays. Last year’s first wave dealt urban areas the hardest blow but in 2021 it is rural areas that suffer.

    Biz Insight – In India, as in many countries, mandatory lockdowns and health concerns have accelerated sales of tea. A survey of 22,000 rural small market stores known collectively as Kirana revealed a 140% increase in tea sales. Sales of hand sanitizers that appeared near the top of the list last year are flat but sales of soap increased by 50%, according to StoreKing. Pest and mosquito repellent experienced a 200% increase and comfort snacks and biscuits are up 83%.

    Assessing Human Rights in Tea

    THIRST The International Round Table for Sustainable Tea, is launching a three-year program to analyze the root causes of human rights breaches in the tea industry and come up with an action plan for how to solve them.

    Founder Sabita Banerji objects to “rights assessments” which have a negative connotation she favors an “impact analysis.” Banerji calls it a ‘constructive solution-oriented approach’.

    The program will document conditions for workers and farmers and identify problems “but more importantly, what can be done to address these problems,” said Banerji. The first step is to consolidate existing research and then conduct in-depth studies where there are gaps, providing a global picture of the interdependencies of tea.

    Read more on the Tea Biz blog.

    A Series of Major Quakes Rattle Yunnan

    Three major earthquakes and hundreds of aftershocks damaged 14,000 structures, killed three people and seriously injured 28 in Yunnan Province last week. The first in the series struck Dali located near the heart of the tea growing region. That deadly 6.0 magnitude quake on Tuesday was followed Friday by a much stronger 6.4 quake that damaged homes and forced rescuers to pull several people from under debris. Five hours later a 7.4 temblor located in adjacent Yangbi [YANg BY] rattled Yunnan again.

    The steep mountainous region, subject to landslides, is jittery about quakes. In 2008 a 7.9 earthquake centered in Sichuan province killed 87,000 people and left 4.2 million homeless, causing $150 billion in damage.

    Share this episode with your colleagues

    Sign up
    Archives
    Tea Journey
    https://teabiz.sounder.fm/episode/news-01212021

    Subtext

    Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Visit our website and subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.

    Subscribe to Subtext

    Subscribe and receive Tea Biz weekly in your inbox.

    •

    Dan Bolton

    •

    ,
    , , , , , , , , ,

  • Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 18

    Caption: Tea Forest in the Hawaiian sun near the village of Volcano. Courtesy Tea Hawaii/Eva Lee

    Tea Biz Podcast Logo

    Hear the Headlines

    | International Tea Day Celebrations
    | Assam Forbids Tea Workers to Isolate at Home
    | Nepal’s First Flush is Delayed
    | Kagoshima May Soon Outproduce Shizuoka

    Seven-minute News Recap

    India Tea Price Watch | Sale 19

    Features

    Tea Biz this week travels to the slopes of the Kilauea Volcano where Tea Hawaii Founder Eva Lee describes the ongoing tea harvest as unusually wet and seven weeks later than normal.

    …and then to Massachusetts to learn from author and historian Chitrita Banerji how a simple beverage transformed Indian culture.

    Tea Hawaii owners Eva Lee and Chiu Leong

    Uniquely Hawaiian

    Constant rains delayed Hawaii’s first flush by several weeks

    By Dan Bolton

    Eva Lee is a pioneer of modern tea cultivation in Hawaii, establishing with her husband, Chiu Leong, a tea garden and nursery in the village of Volcano 20 years ago. The farm supplied growers with hearty cultivars first introduced in 2000 by researchers at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Hawaiian tea is grown on farms producing less than 100 kilos a year. Small amounts of premium tea are exported, but most is purchased by local restaurants and tourists. In this conversation, Lee describes how the “modest but very strong tea industry” adapted during a difficult year. Read more…

    Tea Hawaii co-founder Eva Lee shares details about the 2021 harvest.
    Chitrita Banerji

    Tea is Both Cultural and Personal

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Bengaluru

    Humans readily adapt to new foods and drink, most with little affect “we make them our own by accepting them and enjoying them” says distinguished food and culture author Chitrita Banerji. But some are transformative: “It’s interesting that a foreign drink brought in by a foreign colonial power became such an important thing. We don’t think of tea as a foreign drink anymore,” she tells Aravinda Anantharaman during this International Tea Day interview.

    Read more…

    Chitrita Banerji on the transformative

    Tea News you Need to Know

    By Dan Bolton

    Villagers have celebrated tea at local festivals that date to millennia. In the past hundred years, regional and national tea celebrations gained momentum — driven primarily by corporate marketers.

    A decade ago, the idea of a global day of recognition with a different message took hold. Joydeep Phukan, who directs the Tocklai Tea Research Institute in Assam, was tasked by the FAO’s Intergovernmental Group on Tea to convince the United Nations General Assembly to focus on producers, creating awareness and appreciation for the small growers responsible for most of the world’s tea. That took five years.

    Then the real work began. In 2019 when he learned of the General Assembly vote in favor of International Tea Day, Phukan challenged the industry: “Now that we have a dedicated day for tea, we need to do interesting things around the day to re-position tea as the most preferred beverage in the world.”

    Today you see that commitment passionately on display. There are virtual festivals, seminars, and academic presentations, an all-day SofaSummit to hear the voices of origin and the YouTube series “Around the World in 80 Teas” a marvelous virtual visit to the tea lands narrated by Will Battle and Dr. Sharon Hall, who directs the UK Tea & Infusions Association. The UN organized a presentation on sustainability and panel discussion. In Argentina, the Misiones tea growers are presenting a Spanish-language tea conference. In Sri Lanka the focus is marketing. In China the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is hosting the Hangzhou International Tea Industry Expo, the largest face-to-face tea expo in China since the pandemic.  If you love tea please promote and participate in these activities, either live or over the weekend since most are recorded.

    Today is a glorious day, let’s all share in the tea industry’s ten-year overnight success.

    Biz Insight – Tea Biz presents Behind the Headlines, a 15-minute YouTube presentation by Dan Bolton describing trends that shape today’s news. Available in English and Spanish.

    Assam Forbids Tea Workers to Isolate at Home

    The situation has worsened in Assam to the point that workers who test COVID positive, many of whom are mothers and grandmothers, must quarantine outside their home until they recover. The practice is controversial but necessitated by the fact entire families have perished on the return of infected workers.

    Assam Health Minister Keshab Mahanta announced that

    “In the tea gardens, we have taken a tough stance on isolation of the positive patients. No one will be allowed to avail home isolation in the tea gardens.”

    Workers that do not require hospitalization must remain in COVID Care Centers where they are provided food and medicine. The vaccination rate remains low in part because many are unable to navigate the Co-WIN online registration system. Registration is mandatory for all those 18 years of age and older.

    During the past year Assam counted fewer than 1000 deaths but there were more than 500 cases in Dibrugarh this week. There were more than 6000 cases reported May 19 and the seven day average is more than 5000. Deaths are approaching 2,500.

    India recorded the highest COVID one day fatalities of any country this week. There are now 26 million active cases with almost 300,000 deaths officially recorded, a tally that is likely an undercount.

    Biz Insight – There were 1,851 tea workers who tested positive on 229 tea gardens of Assam last week. There are now 214 COVID Care Centres in operating with more opening this week. There are 850 registered gardens in the state, any that are found to have 20 or more workers test positive are declared a containment zone.

    Nepal First Flush Delayed

    Tea growers in Nepal faced a formidable combination of wet weather, expensive fertilizer, high transport costs, a shortage of labor, infestations of leaf curl and black tip that led to declines of as much as 40% last year compared to 2019.

    In 2021 drought is the big concern.

    Harvest totals or the first flush are half that of 2020. New leaves did not sprout on schedule due to drought conditions that lasted from December until February. The Kathmandu Post writes that unlike last year, the price of CTC (cut, tear, curl) teas are 200 Nepal Rupees per kilo, well below highs of 360 Nepal rupees last year.

    Nepal is also seeing a replay of last year’s Covid-19 crisis. Nepal reported 9,198 new confirmed cases on Monday around 3000% increase from last month. The positivity rate is averaging 45% with 174 deaths per day in a country of around 30 million population.

    Biz Insight – Nepal Tea founder Nishchal Banskota, who manages the family’s Nepal tea garden remotely from New York, writes that “along with the health crisis, the small farmers in the agricultural sector face even longer term impact due to their crops getting wasted due to the lockdowns and lack of market access. The farmers that were just hoping to recoup the losses from last year’s crisis are yet again faced with challenges to produce and sell their crops. The tea farmers find themselves in the same situation where they might not be able to harvest their most productive second flush due to the rise in the cases.” 

    Learn more on the Tea Biz Blog.

    Kagoshima May Soon Outproduce Shizuoka

    Shizuoka, Japan’s picturesque and most productive tea prefecture since 1959, may soon have to relinquish that title to Kagoshima, according to data released by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Acreage under tea and green leaf output has slowly declined since the 1980s in Shizuoka which produced 25,200 metric tons of unprocessed tea leaves in 2019. The total is 34% of Japan’s tea production. The 2019 crop was valued at ¥ 25.1 billion yen (about $230 million US dollars). Kagoshima growers, who harvested only 2,700 metric tons in 1959, by 2019 were recording ¥ 25.2 billion in sales. The prefecture harvested nearly the same amount of tea on 7,970 hectares, compared to Shizuoka’s 13,700 hectares. The reason is that Kagoshima invested heavily in mechanized harvesting equipment now used on 97.5% of the prefecture’s farms. Due to steeper slopes and smaller plots, only 65.8% of Shizuoka’s tea is mechanically harvested.

    Share this episode with your colleagues

    Sign up
    Archives
    Tea Journey
    https://teabiz.sounder.fm/episode/news-01212021

    Subtext

    Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Visit our website and subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.

    Subscribe to Subtext

    Subscribe and receive Tea Biz weekly in your inbox.

    •

    Dan Bolton

    •

    ,
    , , , , , , ,

  • Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 17

    Listen to the Tea Biz Podcast on iTunes | Spotify | Sounder | Stitcher | Alexa

    Hear the Headlines for the Week of May 14

    Hear the Headlines


    | Kenya’s Becoming Unbearably Hot for Tea
    | Brexit Disrupts UK Tea Trade
    | Colombo Tea Auction Transformed
    | China Tea Price Watch | India Tea Price Watch
    | INDIA IN-DEPTH: Q|A Raj Barooah, Director, Aideobarie Tea Estate

    This week’s India Tea Price Watch

    Features

    Tea Biz travels to Los Angeles this week where Art of Tea founder Steve Schwartz, a graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico, describes tea as a powerful conduit for health and wellness…

    … and then to Hawaii to interview tea adventurer and Jalam Teas Founder Jeff Fuchs who is sheltering there during the pandemic. Jeff shares stories about tea and tea culture and the tranquility it brings to all.

    Jeff Fuchs
    Jeff Fuchs with an old Newari tea and commodity trader in Kathmandu.

    The Tranquility of Tea

    By Jessica Natale Woollard

    Author, adventurer, and tea lover, Jeff Fuchs has walked the Ancient Tea Horse Road, been featured in TV documentaries, and traveled extensively in the tea lands sourcing rare teas. His affinity for high-altitude treks equals his affinity for tea. He tells Jessica Natale Woollard, “I’ve had some of my best tea times in the mountains without necessarily having had the best teas.” Read more…

    Related: Countenance: Travelers Along the Tea Horse Road by Jeff Fuchs

    Jeff Fuchs on his travels in the tea lands and the tranquility of tea.
    Steve Schwartz
    Art of Tea Founder Steve Schwartz

    Tea is a Powerful Conduit for Health and Wellness

    By Dan Bolton

    Tea is a powerful conduit for health and wellness, says Steve Schwartz, founder of Art of Tea in Los Angeles and a graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico. In this segment, he discusses the challenging role for tea retailers amid the pandemic. Retailers are wise to offer counsel on the comfort and health benefits of tea, educating themselves in both the traditional and science-based properties and then sharing that knowledge with customers. Learn more…

    Steve Schwartz advises retailers to educate customers on the health and wellness properties of tea.

    Tea News you Need to Know

    Kenya is Becoming Unbearably Hot for Tea

    The red volcanic soils of Kenya’s Rift Valley, long sunny days and tropical rainfall are perfect for growing tea. At 2,000 meters [6,500 feet above sea level], the temperature is between 16 oC and 29 oC,  generating new leaves at a fast pace making Kenya one of the most productive tea growing regions on earth.

    All that is changing, according to Christian Aid, a charity that this week published 14 pages of troubling research into the future of tea in growing regions essential to Kenya’s status as the world’s largest black tea exporter.

    The report highlights the work of Sadeeka Layomi Jayasinghe and Lalit Kumar, researchers who predicts that “climate change is going to slash optimal conditions for tea production by 26.2% by 2050.”

    Tea grown in less favorable regions will experience 39% declines.

    Lower quality leaf and less appealing taste will affect all growers. Kenyan farmers the most productive in the world harvesting an average of 1,500 to 3,300 kilos per hectare of made tea per year. Smallholders harvest an average 2,300 kilos per hectare.

    Torrential rain and extreme temperature are the two biggest concerns. The combination encourages plagues of locusts and devastating floods. Temperatures will rise 2.5 oC to an average 23.5 oC with spells hot enough to kill mature tea plants.

    Biz Insight – Researchers concluded that it will be very difficult for tea growers to move to new, higher altitude, previously uncultivated regions, they wrote. Tea is an example of how we are all connected, wrote one farmer. “We grow it here in Kenya and it’s enjoyed by people around the world. But if we are to carry on growing it we need those other, richer countries, to cut their emissions and to think about how we are affected as tea farmers.”

    Click to download the report.

    Brexit impact on UK Tea

    Brexit Disrupts UK Tea Trade

    By Dan Bolton

    Brexit disrupted the UK tea trade in significant ways. It is too early to assess the financial impact, but long-term change is apparent along with howls from tea lovers on the continent.

    EU grocers specializing in British foods say their shelves are bare following the January 31 start of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement ratified in May.  The immediate shortages are the result of customs delays due to additional paperwork and transport bottlenecks caused by COVID. The 500,000 British ex-patriates living in EU countries that complained the loudest are some of the best customers for tea brands including Yorkshire Gold, PG Tips, Tetley, Twinings, and Typhoo.

    The Brexit vote and drawn-out resolution of disputes unsettled traditional trade in tea. Kenya, the UK’s top tea trading partner at 62,000 metric tons, began selling tea direct to Europe, bypassing British tea packers for those in Germany and Poland. Brexit also realigned UK’s previous focus on non-EU markets.

    Tea imports to the UK

    The United Kingdom re-exports 2.2% of the world’s tea by value. About 17% of the tea that arrives at its ports is packaged shipped to Europe. Volume in 2019 was 19 million kilos with 10 million kilos of that delivered to EU countries. The 2019 total reversed a steady decline in volume beginning in 2010 when tea exports totaled 30.5 million kilos.

    Tea exports to non-EU countries increased to 8.8 million kilos in 2019 and continue to rise. UK tea export totals are in decline overall, but 2021 marks the third consecutive year that the UK recorded growth in overseas shipments to non-EU countries.

    Biz Insight – Sales of goods exported to the EU declined steeply in January as Brexit rules were enforced. In February goods exported to the EU increased 4.5% and in March grew a solid 8.6%. Meanwhile, imports from non-EU member countries exceeded EU imports for the first quarter since 1997. While it is too soon to assess the full impact, UK residents remain skeptical of Brexit. The most recent YouGov poll showed that 51% of respondents think it was a wrong decision and 38% a right one, the largest gap since 2016, according to the Wall Street Journal.

    COVID Relief Fund

    Last Day to Reach Emergency Relief Fund Goal

    A COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund initiate by Vahdam India is nearing its goal with donations of 6.4 million rupees ($91,660) but needs an additional $15,000 boost to reach a 7.5 million rupees ($107,000) in five days. Donations to #RiseTogetherForIndia assist the non-profit Doctors for You deliver oxygen and relief services across India. Learn more and find a Ketto crowdfunding link to donate on the Tea Biz blog.

    Digital Auction
    Colombo Tea Traders’ Association conducting first digital auctions in April 2020. Photo Daily News.

    Colombo Auction Transformed

    By Dan Bolton

    Last year Sri Lanka confronted its past and raced beyond, scrapping a 127-year tradition, and transforming the Colombo Tea Auction into a digital workplace.

    Tea generates 10% of the country’s wealth earning $1.2 billion on exports and employing two million people. Last year the pandemic closed not only the auction floor but prevented the hundreds of face-to-face interactions involved in storing, sampling, shipping, and presenting tea to buyers who rightly insist on sipping before bidding thousands of rupees for a lot. Shutting down the auction jeopardized the livelihoods of many more than the traders who attend.

    A task force led by Anil Cooke, CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities, worked with CICRA Holdings, a local information technology venture, coordinating with the Sri Lanka Tea Board to develop a training program while simultaneously customizing the auction software. Within days the digital platform earned the endorsement of auctioneers, brokers, technicians, and government officials.

    Simulations enabled 300 key users to master the system which went live in early April 2020.  A year later tea prices are stable, exports revived, trading is lively with many improvements in transactions thanks to a quick decision that took 20 years to contemplate.

    Share this BLOG|CAST with your colleagues

    View the Tea Biz Newsletter Archive

    Sign Up for the Tea Biz Blog and Newsletter
    https://teabiz.sounder.fm/episode/news-01212021

    Subtext

    Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Visit our website and subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.

    Subscribe to Subtext

    Podcast Players

    ITunesSpotifyiHeart RadioStitcher
    Google PodcastAmazon PodcastsTune In Sounder
    Download the Tea Biz Podcast weekly on your favorite player. To obtain a text-only version subscribe via RSS

    Subscribe and receive Tea Biz weekly in your inbox.

    •

    Dan Bolton

    •

    ,
    , , , , , , , , ,

  • Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 16

    Listen to the Tea Biz Podcast on iTunes | Spotify | Sounder | Stitcher | Alexa

    Hear the Headlines for the Week of May 7

    Hear the Headlines


    | Drought Eases in Assam
    | COVID Wave Sweeps Over Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
    | Are Tea Auctions Still Relevant?
    | Major Grocery Chains to Carry Flash-Frozen Tea Leaves
    | China Tea Price Watch | India Tea Price Watch
    | INDIA IN-DEPTH: Q|A Raj Barooah, Director, Aideobarie Tea Estate

    This week’s India Tea Price Watch

    Features

    May is tea month. The United Nations-designated International Tea Day is celebrated on May 21 this year and you can once again participate from the comfort of your home. The second virtual Sofa Summit is hosted by Shabnam Weber, president of the Tea & Herbals Association of Canada.

    … and then we visit London where Kyle Whittington, founder of the Tea Book Club reviews The Story of Japanese Tea, a fascinating book by Tyas S?sen covering cultivation, manufacturing, history and culture.

    SofaSummit 2021
    Join the SofaSummit on International Tea Day

    SofaSummit Returns for Second Year

    By Jessica Natale Woollard

    The all-day SofaSummit begins at 8 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Friday, May 21. It is a lively virtual chat that introduces tea enthusiasts to dozens of tea experts, scholars, growers and tea professionals from around the globe. Initiated of necessity during the pandemic, the popular event is again hosted by the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada. Read more…

    Shabnam Weber Describes the day long SofaSummit
    Raj Barooah, director, Aideobarie Tea Estate
    Raj Barooah, director, Aideobarie Tea Estate

    Climatic Swings, Now Too Dry, Now Too Wet, Threaten Assam

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Bengaluru, India

    A drought was declared in Assam in April, a month that saw only four days of rain in north India’s tea-growing regions.  Fewer rain days since January and a rainfall deficit of 205 millimeters compared to the long-term average, meant that tea bushes were badly hit. Raj Barooah discusses the erratic weather and what it has meant for tea production. Barooah’s Aideobarie Tea Estate, located near Jorhat, consists of two farms with a combined 645 acres under tea. The estate produces 700 metric tons of CTC tea and artisanal whole leaf tea marketed under the Rujani Tea brand. Read more…

    Tyas Sosen
    Located in Kamigy?-ku, Kyoto, the Tea Crane specializes in artisan Japanese tea..

    The Story of Japanese Tea

    By Kyle Whittington | London

    Whether you already love (and think you know) Japanese tea or are just getting into it, The Story of Japanese Tea is definitely a must read! Tyas S?sen takes us on a fully immersive look at Japanese tea through history, cultivation and production, customs and the different types of Japanese tea. As well as advice on preparing and drinking Japanese tea. From the traditional and historical right through to the bang up to date. This is a fully rounded and thorough book.

    Read more…

    Tea Book Club founder Kyle Whittington reviews The Story of Japanese Tea by Tyas S?sen.

    Tea News you Need to Know

    Drought Eases in Assam

    The Tocklai Tea Research Institute last week issued a special bulletin describing adverse growing conditions in western India. Rainfall is down by half and temperatures are “comparatively higher” than normal. There were only four days of rain in April. Rainfall since January is down 205 millimeters, “a substantial deficit compared to the long term normal,” according to the 10-page bulletin. Temperatures averaged 1.6oC above norms.

    Rains late in the week provide some relief to tea estates on the north bank from Tezpur to Gohpur while the Naharkatia Circle got only drizzle. Meteorologists predicted Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, and Tripura will experience isolated very heavy falls.

    The entire country recorded 31 mm rainfall during April — 21% less than its Long Period Average (LPA) of 39.3 mm — East and Northeast India collectively registered 64.2 mm precipitation, which is almost half of what these regions receive on average (124.8 mm) in the month of April, according to the Weather Channel.

    Tocklai warns that these variations favor pests that prey on weakened bushes. “Severely affected bushes should not be plucked hard and allowed to recover with adequate rest,” advises the report. Shortfalls could be as high as 20 to 25% in April and May compared to previous years. Production through March is down 39% compared to 2019 but ahead of last year, according to Tea Board of India statistics. Assam growers through March have produced 100 million kilos of tea.

    The Economist Intelligence Unit writes that “prospects for India’s 2021-22 harvest are relatively weak, with only a partial recovery likely following a 9.6% fall in tea output in 2020.

    “We now expect a broad stagnation in output in 2021, ahead of partial recovery in 2022. Production levels are likely to remain below pre-pandemic levels, even in 2022,” according to EIU’s monthly Tea Forecast.

    COVID-19 map
    COVID-19 infections April 24-May7 by Google Maps.

    COVID Wave Sweeps Over Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

    By Dan Bolton

    COVID related deaths may double in the next month as the virus spreads to rural India, according to the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Deaths, now at more than 230,000 could increase to 400,000 in June and rise to 1 million by the end of summer. Twenty-one million are currently ill. India has a case-per-million rate of 16,000.

    Tests for COVID indicate positivity rates of 20% on average, rising to more than 40% in hard-hit regions. The World Health Organization advises governments to implement strict social distancing until rates fall below 5% for at least two weeks.

    Attention has focused on the crisis in India but the spring wave has engulfed tea growing regions in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

    Here is a brief rundown:

    NEPAL

    Nepal reported a 1,600% increase to 83,000 COVID infections during the week ending May 7. Army medical teams were mobilized this week to care for the ill as hospitals are overwhelmed. Only 1.2% of the population has received a vaccine, fewer still in rural tea growing regions. Nepal is experiencing 12,500 cases per million. Cases jumped from an average 298 per day in March to 9,000 in April. Deaths total 3,529.

    Dry weather cut yields by half during Nepal’s first flush. Buds did not appear until April, three weeks later than normal. Scarcity means raw green, organic-certified leaves, now earn farmers a guaranteed NRs100 per kilo, up from NRs40 rupees per kilo last year.

    Export volume increased 65% to 9,700 metric tons in the nine months since July 2020. The price paid for exports set records in 2020 and prices are expected to remain high due to shortfalls in India which purchases 80% of Nepal’s tea.

    SRI LANKA

    Cases increased by 20,000 last week to reach 120,000. Deaths are relatively low at 734 but the trend is troubling. Cases per one million are now 5,477. During the period April 2020 to October Sri Lanka reported at most two or three deaths per day. The seven-day average has since risen to 10. The country closed its borders to India last week.

    The low rate of infection last year minimized disruptions to the harvest but logistics proved difficult for the island nation as virtually all the tea grown there is exported. Prime Minister Rajapaksa said that the government could not shut down the country because of the pandemic. The economic well-being of citizens was as important as fighting the virus, he said.

    BANGLADESH

    The country witnessed a sharp rise in infections in April when the seven-day average reached 7,000 infections and a record 102 deaths reported April 9. Lockdowns have since driven the seven-day average was 1,700 infections in May. Cases per million average 4,500 with 11,796 deaths.

    In tea, COVID restraints forced a 10% drop in year-over-year tea production in 2020 but output was sufficient to meet domestic needs. Consumption declined 10-15% due to strictly enforced lockdowns that included closing restaurants and tea stalls. Dry weather has limited output since January.

    Biz Insight – Tea growers in Kangra in Himachal Pradesh are experiencing great weather but unable to harvest. Production there is predicted to decline 70% to less than a million kilos because laborers who fled to their native villages during the winter have not returned. COVID fears are to blame.

    In the past year 900 farms ceased harvesting tea as growers turn to more profitable crops. There are now 1,100 tea growers, down three quarters from the more than 5,000 in 2010. Acreage under tea is estimated at 5,600 acres (2,300 ha) down 60% (4,000 ha) from the 9,800 acres planted in the 1980s. The region produced 1.9 million kilos 20 years ago but will struggle to produce 800,000 kilos in 2021.

    Emergency Relief Fund Nears Goal

    A COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund initiate by Vahdam India is nearing its goal with donations of 6.3 million rupees ($89,000) but needs an additional $20,000 boost to reach a 7.5 million rupees ($107,000) in five days. Donations to #RiseTogetherForIndia assist the non-profit Doctors for You deliver oxygen and relief services across India. Learn more and find a Ketto crowdfunding link to donate on the Tea Biz blog.

    Pranav Bhansali

    Are Tea Auctions Still Relevant?

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Bengaluru

    Pranav Bhansali, managing partner at Bhansali and Company, tea traders since 1929, answers in the affirmative. Auctions continue to be very relevant and play an important role, he says. Currently 45% of tea sold in India is auctioned, vs 55% sold in private transactions.

    Price discovery at India’s regionally dispersed auctions is an accurate reflection of the dynamics of demand and supply, says Bhansali. Transitioning from out-cry to digital auctions was the right decision “and if it wasn’t for the e-auctions, the tea industry would have come to a halt during the pandemic.”

    Read more…

    Two Major Grocery Chains to Carry Flash-Frozen Tea Leaves

    By Dan Bolton

    Major Grocery Chains Safeway and Sobeys with a combined 433 locations will stock Millennia Tea nationwide in Canada. Millennia washes and flash-freezes organic tea leaves for use as a culinary ingredient and in brewing tea. The result is a cup of fresh tea with greater concentration of tea compounds, according to company co-founder Tracy Bell.

    The certified organic tea is available chopped; compressed into individual portions (tea cubes) or as two leaves and a bud. Recipe suggestions includes sauces, soups, and smoothies. Teas are sourced in Sri Lanka.

    Bell writes that the traditional path to market for wellness brands is through health stores, “but as soon as the pandemic hit, the health industry stopped taking on new innovative products, and we needed to quickly re-think our business model.”

    A 10-store trial last summer, in Sobeys’ “support local” program, led to placement in 30 locations, said Bell. “We were thrilled when they said yes to national distribution,” she said. Millennia Tea is also available online and a few US locations. A stand-up pouch containing 120 grams of tea sells for $25.

    Share this BLOG|CAST with your colleagues

    View the Tea Biz Newsletter Archive

    Sign Up for the Tea Biz Blog and Newsletter
    https://teabiz.sounder.fm/episode/news-01212021

    Subtext

    Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Visit our website and subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.

    Subscribe to Subtext

    Podcast Players

    ITunesSpotifyiHeart RadioStitcher
    Google PodcastAmazon PodcastsTune In Sounder
    Download the Tea Biz Podcast weekly on your favorite player. To obtain a text-only version subscribe via RSS

    Subscribe and receive Tea Biz weekly in your inbox.

    •

    Dan Bolton

    •

    ,
    , , , , , , , ,

  • Tea Biz Podcast | Episode 15

    Listen to the Tea Biz Podcast on iTunes | Spotify | Sounder | Stitcher | Alexa

    Hear the Headlines for the Week of April 30

    Hear the Headlines


    | Mombasa to Expand Tea Auctions to Five Days a Week
    | Spiking Prices Dismay Russian Tea Drinkers
    | A 6.4 Quake Shakes Assam, Tea Factory Damage Minor
    | Vahdam Tea Mobilizes Emergency COVID Aid for India
    | China Tea Price Watch | India Tea Price Watch
    | IN-DEPTH: India

    This week’s India Tea Price Watch

    Features

    This week Tea Biz visits the fabled Darjeeling tea growing region in the Himalayan foothills of northwestern India

    …. and we travel to Seattle for the launch of the Organic Marketing Association a group that conveys the complexities of organic cultivation with memorable memes, clever ditties, and illustrations that radiate the joy of farming in harmony with nature.

    Gopaldhara Tea Estate, Darjeeling, West Bengal

    Steadfast Darjeeling Continues to Evolve

    By Aravinda Anantharaman | Bengaluru, India

    Darjeeling is the most famous of India’s tea growing regions. Revenue from its spring flush also makes it the most lucrative, but the plants there are aging, wage inflation is high, and workers are restless. Innovation is overdue. Aravinda Anantharaman spoke with Rishi Saria a third-generation planter, managing the Gopaldhara, and Rohini estates in Darjeeling. He describes where things stand, how Darjeeling began producing oolongs and offers personal insights into rival Himalayan tea produced in Nepal. Read more…

    Darjeeling planter Rishi Saria manages the Gopaldhara, and Rohini estates.
    OMA Hero Image
    The Organic Marketing Association builds brand awareness with humor.

    Marketing Organics with Humor

    By Dan Bolton | Winnipeg, Canada

    Dennis Weaver is the co-founder and president of the Organic Marketing Association, a non-profit that growers CANNOT pay to join. The consumer-facing OMA celebrates the fun side of organics by building awareness with slogans, puns and Instagram-inspired illustrations of vegetables like celery with the headline “Stalking You” or lemons calling you to “Pucker Up Baby.” OMA’s slogan, is the double entendre: “Organic. Eat Me.”

    Weaver explains that organic food is delicious and nutritious, “So why is organic stuck at 5% market share with plantings on only 1% of US acreage?” he asks. One reason is that organic suppliers spend too much time talking about what’s not organic. They are in a defensive bubble, he says. Consumers are far more interested in how tasty, fun and easy it is to choose organics.

    “We won’t try to lecture anyone. Instead, we’ll focus on making positive associations with the word organic and the things that make people happy. It’s a simple formula that works,” says Weaver.

    Learn more…

    Dennis Weaver, president and co-founder, Organic Marketing Association.
    Dennis Weaver OMA
    Dennis Weaver, president and co-founder of the newly launched Organic Marketing Association

    Tea News you Need to Know

    Kenya’s Tea Price Slump

    Low auction prices for Kenya and other East African teas have persisted for the past three years due to oversupply. During the past nine months the average price of $2.52 per kilo declined by 8.6 percent. Teas auctioned by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA)   factories generally sell for more than teas from elsewhere but are down 12 percent. Recent auction averages of $1.81 per kilo are well below the cost of production for many factories. The country’s Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) also blames the decline on weak demand due to coronavirus lockdowns in many countries and the devaluation of many foreign currencies. Meanwhile avorable weather and increased acreage under tea with each passing year leading to greater surplus volume, adding to already high stocks.

    Two developments this week will likely further roil Mombasa. On April 24 the government announced that auctions would be expanded from two to five days a week later this spring and last Friday detectives with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations seized both KTDA records and equipment and those of the East Africa Tea Traders Association (EATTA). No sales were conducted Monday.

    Biz Insight – The Colombo Tea Auction in Sri Lanka is conducted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Annual sales volume of 300 million kilos is comparable to the 450 million kilos auctioned in Mombasa. In 2020, after 127 years, Colombo’s traditional auction went digital but retains its two-day-a-week schedule. John Snell, owner and CEO of Ela’s Tea Company in Ontario, Canada, has been buying tea in commercial quantities since 1984. A former trading manager for multi-nationals purchasing East African tea, Snell shared his thoughts on the expanded schedule.

    Tea trader John Snell questions expansion of Mombasa auction from two to five days a week.
    Bhootechang TE 6.4AssamQuake
    Interior cracks at Bhootechang Tea Estate due to 6.4 magnitude earthquake April

    6.4 Quake Shakes Assam, Tea Industry Damage Light

    By Roopak Goswami | Assam

    A strong earthquake followed by several aftershocks rattled rafters and nerves on April 28 but caused only minor damage to tea processing factories throughout the region. Several estates reported damage to outbuildings and dwellings for workers. There were 12 injuries, none life-threatening, reported following the 30-second shake at 7:51 am April 28.

    Bhupinder Singh, chairman of the Assam Branch India Tea Association (ITA) Zone 3 said, “We were lucky to have got away with no injuries to employees and their dependents from member gardens.”

    A hill collapsed in Bhirabkund in the Udalguri district due to soil liquefaction caused by the quake and area residents were warn to be wary of land slides and damage to local bridges.

    “The high-intensity earthquake early Wednesday has caused damage to houses and buildings with people running out of their homes and other places in panic, obliterating social distancing and other COVID guidelines amid a raging pandemic. From the initial reports, the massive quake has caused only light damage to buildings and there have been no fatalities reported so far and only few injuries,” writes Prof. T.G. Sitharam, director of IIT Guwahati and president of the Indian Society for Earthquake Technology.

    The National Centre for Seismology put the epicenter of the quake near Sonitpur, a “very seismically active area” along the Kopili Fault. The Kopili is a strike-slip fault aligned from northwest to southeast. The quake originated 17 kilometers underground and 43 kilometers west of Tezpur. During the first 48 hours there were 15 aftershocks measuring 2 to 4.9 on the Richter Scale. The quake caused many fissures, exposing liquified soil within a radius of 50-70 kilometers. The region’s last major quake, in July 1960, measured 6.0.

    Spiking Costs Trigger Russian Tea Price Increases

    By Eugene Gerden | Moscow

    Tea prices in Russia are steadily rising due to a weak ruble and the increased cost of tea imports.

    Retail prices increased by 2-10% in Russia last year and prices are expected to continue to climb in 2021 due to shipping and freight costs, packaging expenses and unfavorable currency exchange rates along with the increased cost of raw materials due to the pandemic.

    Demand for tea in Russia currently remains stable. The rise in retail prices, so far, are not significant. However the possibility exists for further increases in the second half of the year, which may have a negative effect on local demand, according to Ramaz Chanturia, director of the Russian Association of Tea and Coffee Producers (Roschaykofe).

    Tea consumption at home significantly increased since the introduction of quarantine measures and self-isolation in the country. At the same time out-of-home coffee sales fell by almost 30% after a sharp growth in 2019.

    Chanturia explained that it could be worse. Price increases were restricted because producers are concerned with the decline of purchasing power by consumers and the declining popularity of tea among the youth, as many switched to coffee in recent years. The association does not expect the Russian tea market to expand this year. Sales volumes are growing at the minimum levels, he said, making 2021 much like 2020.

    Learn more…

    COVID Relief Fund

    Vahdam India Mobilizes Emergency COVID Relief Effort

    By Dan Bolton

    Vahdam India this week donated $50,000 to launch a fundraiser as part of #RiseTogetherForIndia, a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. Donations will assist the non-profit Doctors for You deliver relief services across India. The company seeks to mobilize tea drinkers worldwide to set up temporary COVID treatment facilities, acquire oxygen cylinders and concentrators and facilitate rapid vaccination efforts. India reported more than three million new COVID cases in the past 10 days. Nineteen million are currently infected with more than 200,000 deaths.

    Learn more and find a Ketto crowdfunding link to donate on the Tea Biz blog.

    Learn more…

    Share this Tea Biz BLOG|CAST with your colleagues

    View the Tea Biz Newsletter Archive

    Sign Up for the Tea Biz Blog and Newsletter
    https://teabiz.sounder.fm/episode/news-01212021

    Subtext

    Avoid the chaos of social media and start a conversation that matters. Subtext’s message-based platform lets you privately ask meaningful questions of the tea experts, academics and Tea Biz journalists reporting from the tea lands. You see their responses via SMS texts which are sent direct to your phone. Visit our website and subscribe to Subtext to instantly connect with the most connected people in tea.

    Subscribe to Subtext

    Podcast Players

    ITunesSpotifyiHeart RadioStitcher
    Google PodcastAmazon PodcastsTune In Sounder
    Download the Tea Biz Podcast weekly on your favorite player. To obtain a text-only version subscribe via RSS

    Subscribe and receive Tea Biz weekly in your inbox.

    •

    Dan Bolton

    •

    ,
    , , , , , , , ,
Verified by MonsterInsights