Boost for Ceylon specialty estate tea

One of the happy discoveries of tea planters in Sri Lanka in the latter part of 19th century was the effect of the diverse climate of the island on tea production. This discovery has resulted in an array of fine teas which are unique to each agro-climatic district and not found anywhere else in the world.

These distinct agro climatic zones produce teas known by romantic names such as Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy, Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa.

Sri Lankan teas have been developed to cater to the tastes of tea drinkers all around the globe. The various teas of Sri Lanka are marketed worldwide under the term “Ceylon Tea” and discerning tea drinkers look for specialty teas from among the range of Ceylon Teas produced right throughout the year.

Sri Lanka being the largest producer of orthodox tea in the world has always taken the lead in setting new trends to promote the consumption of orthodox tea among the tea consumers in the world.

In an effort to expand the orthodox tea market and introduce specialty garden mark teas, the Sri Lanka Tea Board in co-operation with the Tea Association of USA and Specialty Tea Institute of USA launched the first Estate Tea of the Year competition in New York, USA in 2002.

Since then, some other tea producing countries too have adopted this strategy to promote specialty tea among the consumers.

The Sri Lanka Tea Board after five years, took the Ceylon Specialty Estate Tea of the Year competition back to USA last month to stimulate consumer, trade and media interest in the concept of specialty tea by the estate, much the same as fine wines are sold by vineyard.

Once again, the Tea Association of USA and Specialty Tea Institute of USA sponsored the event on behalf of the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington DC and Sri Lanka Consulate General in Las Vegas extended their fullest co-operation to make the event a success.

This was supported by all Tea Trade Associations in Sri Lanka as well. The specialty tea segment is one of the growing sectors of the USA tea market and timely re-launch of the competition in USA with the addition of Ceylon Green Tea would be a big boost for expansion of Specialty Estate Ceylon Tea to USA and Canadian markets. USA is the most unique tea market in the world as they consume more iced tea than hot tea.

The Ready-to-Drink (RTD) ice tea sector, with tea in pet bottles or tetra packs, account for about 80% of retail tea sales in USA. The tea industry remains vibrant with domestic companies reporting sales growth and new entrepreneurs and new tea products entering the market place.

Tea imports to USA have shown a significant growth during the past six years. USA tea imports have moved up from 96,668 mt in 2001 up to 113,651 mt by 2007, registering a growth rate of almost 18% during the six-year period.

At the current pace of growth, tea sales in USA will exceed US$ 10 billion in about three years from the current level of US$ 6 billion. The enhanced demand for Green tea, due to its health benefits, Ready-to-Drink tea and specialty tea products have been the driving force behind this impressive growth in the USA tea market. The consumer demand for specialty tea is expected to grow at a rate of 5-6% per annum.