From February 15-17, Mumbai was host to The World Tea & Coffee Expo 2013, which featured over 100 exhibitors from eight countries and highlighted the tremendous potential of the Hot Beverages sector – both in India and globally. Internationally, the market for Ready to Drink (RTD) tea is expected to reach $125 billion by 2017 compared with $69 billion in 2011 (estimated), signaling an anticipated annual growth of 10.9% between 2012 and 2017.
Supporting this event were a variety of trade bodies, such as the Tea Board of India, Federation of All Indian Tea Traders Association (FAITTA), Bombay Tea Traders Association (BTTA), India China Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Small & Medium Business Development Chamber of India, Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA), and Darjeeling Tea Association.
The top two tea-producing nations – China and India – collectively produce about 60% of the total global tea output. India is the second-largest tea producer and consumer after China and fourth largest tea exporter after Kenya, China, and Sri Lanka.
Wider health awareness, busy lifestyles, and an increase in disposable income are encouraging consumers to opt for RTD tea and coffee. In spite of the deteriorating global economic climate over the last few years, the Hot Beverage sector has remained resilient, as improvements in transportation and the extension of the shelf life of products along with continued product innovation and aggressive marketing initiatives have contributed to the growth of this industry.
During 2011, India’s per capita tea consumption stood at 711 grams per head. However, this is considerably lower than in other tea-drinking nations, such as in Ireland (3 kg), in the U.K., Turkey, and Iraq (more than 2 kg), and in Sri Lanka and Pakistan (more than 1 kg). This signifies remarkable potential in domestic tea consumption.
I would be interested in your opinion as to why you think India has lower tea consumption, per person, than other tea loving nations? That statistic was quite a surprise to me.
Debate goes on about the per capita consumption of China which if stands above 1 kilo a person per annum looking at the heavy tea drinking culture of that region – net importing status of China encourages heavy extension of production capacity with higher yields like that of Kenya. Hidden statistics of production figures because of heavy presence of small scale growers in all of these counties makes the task of International Tea Commettee all the more difficult in providing these consumption, production, import and export figures accurately…
In India, exports are given a lot of incentives and hence producers prefer to export rather than sell in India as the realizations abroad are higher. India is a price conscious market and hence certain varieties of Tea – which are premium – have to be exported. Another reason is that India is not a highly brand conscious market – although that is changing now and the domestic consumption is on the rise…
India is slowly being showcased both within the country and outside in the case of tea and it is very heartening to see the growth of organic sector in almost all the food products – higher realisation of sale proceeds is very important for the health of industry and consumers are ready to pay – two recent shows in Mumbai and Bangalore has made us sit up and take note of various new trends setting up in India…footfall proved it all…
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