The export volume of Vietnamese tea in November is estimated at 12,000 tonnes with a turnover of 21 million USD. However, the figure shows that the tea price for exports in the first ten months decreased nearly 14 percent compared to the same period last year to 1,656 USD per tonne on average.
The Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) forecasts that Vietnam’s tea export value for the whole year will reach 235 million USD, with 46 percent from green tea and 53 percent from black tea. VITAS also predicted that tea export volume would increase by 10 percent next year.
Top importers of Vietnamese tea include Afghanistan, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan, Taiwan, the US, mainland China, the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Pakistan was the top consumption market of Vietnamese tea in the first ten months of the year, accounting for 34 percent of market share. Among tea importers, Pakistan remains a stable import market. Export volume to the market increased 1.8 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, other markets saw sharp increase including China (with 2.09 times as much as that in the same period last year), Indonesia (2.01 times), and Malaysia (44.7 percent year-on-year).
VITAS Vice President Nguyen ThiAnh Hong said that ASEAN is becoming a more important market for the Vietnamese tea sector. In the last five years, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have always been in the top 10 importers of Vietnamese tea. However, Indonesia imports lower grade tea compared to the two other countries, but with a larger volume. Besides the three countries, Thailand is emerging as an important importer of Vietnamese tea, she said.
Vietnamhas for a long time been known as one of the cradles of the global tea industry. According to the Vietnam Industrial and Trade Information Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is the 5th largest tea exporter in the world (behind Kenya, Sri Lanka, China, and India). Its major products are black tea, green tea, oolong tea, jasmine tea, and OTC black tea. By August 2015, thetea planted area of the whole country had reached 140,000 ha and the dried tea output was 180,000 or 190,000 tonnes, of which 75 or 80 per cent was exported.Vietnamese tea has found its way to more than 110 countries and territories.
Vietnam’s tea industry are trying to develop tea in a sustainable way by applying more science and technology in production. Tea producers are creating stable material areas with better tea growing strategies, investing more in processing and strictly controling the use of pesticide to ensure food safety and improve productivity and quality of tea. Vietnam has issued many preferential policies to attract investments from the non-state sector into the agricultural sector, including the tea industry.
According to the VITAS, Vietnam’s tea producers needs to focus on creating a brand identity or establishing products that can be exported directly to customers in order to build value. The VITAS said that pursuing Fairtrade International certification will help growers achieve some of these goals, while also using the labeling to make them more competitive.
However, according to Vitas, to meet the expectation, cooperation between central and local relevant agencies is required, such as planning tea plantation land and processing units with suitable capacity.
The association also suggested tight control for safe tea production, as well as supporting policies for enterprises and farmers in production, investment and material purchase.
