Vietnam has surpassed Indonesia to become the fifth biggest tea producer and exporter in the world, behind Kenya, Sri Lanka and China, announced the Vietnam Tea Association (Vitas).
Vitas said Vietnam’s total tea shipment volume may reach 113,000 tons by the end of 2007, while Indonesia’s total is predict to hit 104,000 tons.
In the first eleven months, Vietnam exported 103,000 tons of various kinds of tea, valued at US$116 million, making on year rises of 7.5 per cent on year in volume and 15 per cent in value.
Vitas said export prices of Vietnamese tea were averaging at US$1,200 per ton, up from US$1,116 a ton in 2006.
However, the prices were still lower than that in the world which stood at US$1,500 or US$2,200 a ton, on average.
Low quality of Vietnamese tea is the major reason for the low price, Vitas noted, adding that Vietnam’s exported tea are mostly tea materials, which are usually offered at lower prices than processed ones.
To increase Vietnamese tea export, chairman of Vitas, Nguyen Kim Phong, said the country needs to increase tea material’s quality and cooperation between tea growers and processors.
Vietnam currently has 127,000 hectares under tea cultivation, up by 159 per cent from 1997. It is also home to 250 tea processing plants with combined capacity of 70,000 tons per annum, in addition to tens of thousands of small processing plants.
Vitas said local tea industry set target to earn US$250 million-US$300 million from tea exports in 2010, by focusing on cultivating high-yield tea varieties and keeping the area at only 130,000 hectares or 140,000 hectares.
Local processing companies are also upgrading their lines in order to help their products meet international food safety and hygiene standards.
Vitas has also carried out project setting up National Tea Exchange Center since 2007, which is financed by the Agency France of Development (AFD).
Last year, Vietnam exported 105,000 tons of tea, including around 65,300 tons of black tea, over 27,000 tons of green tea and nearly 3,800 tons of jasmine tea, totaling US$111 million. (World Tea Magazine December Edition)
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