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| Global tea imports rise 1.5% spurred by US demand: FAO |
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Global tea imports rose 1.5% in 2004, helped by rising US demand for the fragrant leaves, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said. Global net tea imports reached 1.42 million metric tons in 2004, the Rome-based organization said today in an e-mail. The US bought 99,000 tons, 5.3% more than in 2003. That’s more than double the growth in the European Union, where imports rose 2.4% to 215,000 tons. “Most of the growth in these markets is reportedly in response to promotional efforts on the health benefits of tea consumption,” the FAO said. “Available evidence from medical research suggests that moderate consumption of tea offers protection against heart and blood vessel disease, some cancers, and bacterial infections.” “Rising consumption of the beverage helped buoy tea prices, which traded at $1.56 a kilogram on January 1, 2004, and ended the year at 11% higher at $1.73,” FAO said. Kenya and Sri Lanka are the world’s biggest tea suppliers. Unilever NV’s Lipton, Tata Tea Ltd, which owns the Tetley brand, and Associated British Foods Plc’s Twinings business are the world’s top suppliers of the beverage. “In response to increased demand, global tea production rose 2% to an estimated 3.2 million tons,” it said. “The expansion in production was due mainly to the increases recorded in Turkey, China, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia,” the organization said. “The growth in output from these countries more than offset declines in other major producing countries, including India and Bangladesh.” China’s production approached 800,000 tons in 2004, helped by government policies to promote output, the FAO said. In Sri Lanka, production increased by 1.3% to 309,000 tons in 2004, reflecting the recovery from crop losses after devastating floods in low-grown tea areas of the island in 2003. Indonesian production rose 1.2% to 170,000 tons and output in Turkey jumped 32% to 205,500 tons as farmers collected more leaves from their trees. Tea production in Kenya increased by more than 11% to 328,000 tons because of improved weather conditions in most growing regions and the expansion in processing capacity, the organization said. Output in Malawi increased 19% to 50,000 tons. In India, production fell by 4.3% to about 820,200 tons because of unfavorable weather conditions and the closure of as many as 70 tea gardens in the state northeastern state of Assam. Source: FinancialExpress.com July 18, 2005 |
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