Top Tea Exporting Countries

In 2005, world production from the top tea exporting countries was up 3% culminating in an all-time high output of 3.5 million tons.

Key drivers for tea production growth included record harvests in China, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka and Kenya.

Over the past six years, global tea output gained 17% in terms of volume. China (28% of world production) and India (24%) contributed more than half of that volume.

Wholesale Commodity Pricing

Despite healthy production growth, tea exports were flat in 2005 at 1.53 million tons, up only slightly from the prior year’s 1.52 million tons. This according to the Food and Agricultural Organization’s Intergovernmental Group on Tea.

Some experts cite a glut of comparatively low-quality teas coming onto the international trade market. Kenya’s Agriculture Minister Kipruto Kirwa has called on top tea nations to focus on cultivating premium gourment products. In turn, this should reverse a downtrend in tea prices caused by an oversupply of comparatively inexpensive teas.

Leading 20 Shipping Nations

Below are the world’s top tea exporters in 2004 by value; also shown is the volume exported and unit prices.

1. Sri Lanka … US$732,521 (24.2% of global total); 298,909 metric tons @$2,451 per mt
2. Kenya … $463,726 (15.3%); 284,309 mt @$1,631
3. China … $436,845 (14.4%); 280,193 mt @$1,559
4. India … $377,742 (12.5%); 174,728 mt @$2,162
5. United Kingdom … $259,008 (8.6%); 28,528 mt @$9,079
6. Germany … $131,929 (4.4%); 21,646 mt @$6,095
7. Indonesia … $116,018 (3.8%); 98,572 mt @$1,177
8. Viet Nam … $95,550 (3.2%); 99,400 mt @$961
9. Belgium … $49,016 (1.6%); 6,049 mt @$8,103
10. United Arab Emirates … $43,246 (1.4%); 14,722 mt @$2,938
11. France … $42,186 (1.4%); 3,131 mt @$13,474
12. Argentina … $40,512 (1.3%); 67,819 mt @$597
13. Malawi … $39,360 (1.3%); 32,672 mt @$1,205
14. Uganda … $37,256 (1.2%); 36,856 mt @$1,011
15. Netherlands … $36,752 (1.2%); 12,649 mt @$2,906
16. Tanzania … $30,116 (1.0%); 24,330 mt @$1,238
17. United States of America … $29,892 (1.0%); 5,876 mt @$5,087
18. Poland … $25,377 (0.8%); 4,887 mt @$5,193
19. Russia … $22,980 (0.8%); 5,817 mt @$3,950
20. Azerbaijan … $18,578 (0.6%); 6,747 mt @$2,754

France, the U.K. and Belgium demand the highest prices for their premium specialty gourmet drinks on world markets. The unit price for Argentine tea exports is more than 20 times less than that from France. Similarly, Vietnam and Uganda are known as low-cost bulk shippers.

Some analysts point to Europe’s and America’s superior agricultural conditions, farming techniques and industrialization. These advantages may result in higher gourmet quality teas in comparison with the lower cost tea countries.

Sources for this Article

This article presents independent calculations and insights based on key statistics from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (fao.org) and data in the People’s Daily Online article ‘Global tea production hits new high’.

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