Trade Pattern (Tea)

Export pattern

Production pattern

India was the leading producer and consumer of tea in the world till 2003. But China emerged as the leading producer, which accounted for 28.76% percent of global production in 2006 followed by India with 24.46 percent. The tea production in the world increased from 29.56 lakh tonnes in 2000 to 36.49 lakh tonnes in 2006. The corresponding increase in India's tea production was from 8.37 lakh tonnes in 2000 to 8.92 lakh tonnes in 2006.

Global exports

World tea exports reached 16.15 lakh tonnes in 2004. Sri Lanka was the largest exporter with 18.51% followed by China. Sri Lanka accounted for 2.99 lakh tonnes valued at Rs. 3291.33. India was the fourth major tea exporter with a volume of 1.75 lakh tonnes shares around 10.82% earning a foreign exchange of Rs.1697.25 crores.

Country-wise export of tea during 2004

The following pie chart shows the share of leading tea exporters in the world. Sri Lanka (18.51%), China (17.68%), Kenya (17.61%) and India (10.82%) were the leading exporters with approximately two-thirds of the global market share in 2004. The other countries contributed 12.84 per cent of the world tea export. The following pie diagram shows the market share of major tea exporting countries during 2004.

India’s export

India exported 1.58 lakh tonnes of tea valued at Rs.1632.09 crores in 2005-06. There has been a decline in India's tea exports in 2005-06. The annual export from India was hovering around 1.80 lakh tonnes between 2001-02 and 2004-05. But 2005-06 witnessed 13.66% reduction in volume of export and 11.30% reduction in export earnings.

Export of Tea from India during 2001-02 to 2005-06

The following figure shows the export pattern of tea in terms of quantity from India which shows a declining pattern over the years from 2001-02 to 2005-06.

Russia was the largest importer of Indian tea (17.5%) followed by UK (15.5%) and UAE (15.2%) and USA (7.31%) which together accounted lionshare of India's exports. In value terms also thse four countries acounted for more than half of India's tea export.

Country-wise export of tea shows that Russia was the major destination with 0.28 lakh tonnes in 2005-06 (17.48%), followed by UK and UAE with 15 per cent. The market share for USA and Germany was seen to be higher in terms of value of exports in contrast to volume of exports.

Country wise export of Tea from India during 2005-06

The following pie chart shows the country-wise volume of export of tea from India in 2005-06. The top four importers accounted for 55.75% of India's tea export.

Country-wise export of tea from India during 2005-06

Organic Tea

Total world production of organic tea is estimated at around 9000 tonnes in 2001 which represents less than 1% share of global tea production. India produced around 3150 tonnes of organic tea in 2001 which accounts for one-third of the world production. India is not only the pioneer but also one of the leading producers of organic tea in the world.

Darjeeling has the largest number of estates under organic cultivation followed by Assam/ Dooars and South India. However, Oothu tea estate of Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation (BBTC) in South India is the single largest organic tea producer in the country and also one of the largest organic gardens in the world, producing around 1000 tonnes of organic tea annually.

To support and strengthen the globally recognized organic movement, the producers of organic tea in India formed the Indian Bio Organic Tea Association (IBOTA) in 1996. FAO funded model organic farms have also been planned to establish Assam and Darjeeling in North-East and Valparai in South India.