Tea exports in the past 11 months reached 118,000 tonnes, earning US$197 million, increasing 7.1 per cent in volume and 4.3 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

Of these, the export volume of Vietnamese tea in November is estimated at 12,000 tonnes with a turnover of $21 million, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

However, the tea price for exports in the first ten months decreased nearly 14 per cent compared to the same period last year, to $1,656 per tonne on average.

According to the Viet Nam Tea Association (Vitas), export value for the whole year is expected at $235 million, with 46 per cent from green tea and 53 per cent from black tea.

Top importers of Viet Nam’s tea products 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 10 months of the year, accounting for 34 per cent of market share. Export volume to the market increased 1.8 per cent but declined 8.7 per cent in value compared to the same period last year. Markets whose tea imports increased include China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The association also predicted that tea export volume would increase by 10 per cent next year. However, according to Vitas, to meet the expectation, co-operation 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.

The Hai Quan (Customs) newspaper quoted Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, Vitas vice president, as saying that ASEAN was 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.

Among tea importers, Pakistan remains a stable import market. Meanwhile, export to Taiwan’s market faced a lot of difficulties due to the exceptionally strict conditions on residues in plant protection products. However, the problem was solved after the MARD’s National Agro-Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance worked with the Taiwan side. Taiwan raised the permitted residue levels, therefore, tea exports, especially, jasmine tea, to the market have improved, she added. — VNS