Vietnam is estimated to export 60,000 tons of tea in the past seven months of 2007, earning US$59 million, accordingly to the General Statistics Office.
The figures showed slim increases at only 9.6 per cent in volume and 3.6 per cent in value compared with those last year.
However, according to figures from the Vietnam Tea Association, export price of Vietnamese tea has sharply decreased in recent years, averaging at US$1,006 a ton, down by nearly US$110 a ton against 2006, $50 a ton against 2005 and $200 a ton against 2000.
Export price of Vietnamese tea is now equal to only 65 per cent-70 per cent compared with prices of other export countries, averaging around $1,500-$2,200 per ton.
Low quality is the most important reason for the low price, tea officials admitted.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on June 1 issued document asking all organizations and privates participating into processing and producing tea in Vietnam to abide by all regulations on tea quality standards.
Vietnam now is home to around 634 processing plant operating on industrial scale, needing around 1-4 tons of fresh tea buds a day to run fully its capacity at 70,000 tons of tea a year.
Vietnam has become the world's seventh biggest tea producer and ranks sixth in exports among over 30 countries which produce and export tea.
Vietnam’s tea has been exported to 109 countries and territories. Pakistan, Taiwan, India, Russia, China, Germany, Iraq, Poland, Afghanistan and Indonesia are ten biggest importers, buying 84 per cent of Vietnam’s total tea export volume.
The volume includes 20 per cent of green tea and 60 per cent of black tea. (GSO Jul Edition,
www.vitas.org.vn))
Vietnamese
