Indian tea merchants eye China
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-09-27 15:49
Indian tea companies are tapping into the emerging black tea market in China,
as black tea consumption across the rest of the world declines.
Indian tea companies met with their Chinese counterparts at a tea symposium
on Monday, one day before the opening of the 2006 Tea & Coffee World Cup
Exhibition & Symposium in Shanghai.
As green tea consumption grows in the world market, demand for black tea has
decreased, triggering pressure on Indian's tea exporters, whose tea is more than
90 percent black.
Indian tea export quantity dropped from 203.55 million kilograms in 2000 to
183.07 million kilograms in 2004, according to the Tea Board of India's Website.
Now Indian tea makers are looking to China. "We notice the growing demand for
black tea in the Chinese market," said Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of Tea Board
India.
"It seems that the premier section of tealeaves is very promising in China,
as we see consumers are willing to pay very high prices for the product," said
Mohan Chirimar, managing director of Raghunath Exports Pvt Ltd, which supplies
black tea to the Starbucks Coffee chain.
The company is cooperating with a tea retailer based in Hangzhou.
A joint venture project to produce black-tea bags is currently under
negotiation between an Indian tea company and a Chinese company, according to V.
Prakash, Consul General of India in Shanghai.
The Chinese tealeaves market is worth 18 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) while
consumption potential is 10 times more. Currently, the market is dominated by
green tea. Analysts say that of all tea beverages, black tea has the most
potential, especially among young people. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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