Tea exports expected to reach USD 245 million

The Vietnam Tea Association (Vitas) expects the country will earn USD 245 million from tea exports by the end of the year thanks to efforts to promote trade activities, reorganize production, diversify the product range, and improve the quality of tea, the Vietnam Economic News reported.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, tea exports for October alone reached 12,000 tons, worth USD 21 million. Meanwhile, for the first ten months of the year, exports reached only 109,000 tons, at a value of USD 186 million. This is a decrease of 5.6 percent in volume, and a drop of 0.6 percent in revenue against the same period last year.

Photo for illustration. Photo: VNA

The export price of tea averaged at USD 1,693 per ton over the first 10 months of this year, which is a slight increase of 6.03 percent from a year ago. Despite this small increase, Vitas said that, compared to the competition, Vietnam is still selling its tea at one of the lowest prices.

Regarding the tea export markets, Pakistan continues to be the leader, increasing 67.64 percent in volume and up 94.4 percent in revenue from a year ago. At the other end of the scale, Indonesia recorded the sharpest decline dropping by 57.16 percent in volume and falling 58.28 percent in revenue.

Vitas Office Chief Hoang Vinh Long said that unfavorable weather changes in the early months of this year, including prolonged droughts and heavy rainfall in several tea growing areas during the main crop, had adversely affected export tea production in many localities.

Meanwhile, tea exports are facing several difficulties after Chinese Taipei, one of Vietnam’s major markets, applied stricter rules of origin. More seriously, the false rumor that Vietnamese tea is contaminated with dioxin was circulated early in November, and this seriously hurt Vietnamese tea export companies.

“As for the Pakistani market, despite the high percentage of orders, many traders go directly to each tea enterprise in Vietnam to negotiate the price, causing trouble for both tea businesses and farmers,” Long was quoted as saying.

For this reason, apart from seeking ways to rectify the situation, it is necessary to improve trade promotion activities by increasing direct meetings between Vietnamese businesses and foreign buyers, and by diversifying the types of Vietnamese tea booths at international exhibitions.

Vitas made great advances for the Vietnamese tea industry by leading several businesses to an international tea exhibition held in Moscow, Russia, in September. With eight booths at the exhibition, Vietnamese businesses met international regulations on trade, food quality, hygiene and safety, while expanding their markets and seeking potential partners in Eastern Europe, particularly the Far East and Siberia.

With efforts to seek new markets and improve the quality of export tea, Vitas forecasts that Vietnamese tea exports will reach 140-145,000 tons worth USD 245 million by the end of the year.