Ceylon Tea creates history:

Lankan Pavillion the best at Moscow exhibition

Ceylon Tea created history recently when the Sri Lanka Group Stand for tea was adjudged by the official committee as the best country pavilion during the International Food and Drink exhibition, World Food in Moscow.

Russia is one of the most competitive growth markets and World Food attracted products of over 1,420 exhibitors from more than 60 countries. The World Food is a premier international trade exposition held once a year for the food and beverage industry where the world leading organisations compete for business in Russia and CIS countries.

An award presented to a winner

The Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) and the private sector tea exporting companies had been participating in the World Food Exhibition in Moscow on an annual basis for the past so many years. The participation at 2011 exhibition held recently had special significance due to several other promotional events lined up by the SLTB in collaboration with Colombo Tea Traders' Association to support Ceylon Tea in Russia.

The Ceylon Speciality Estate Tea of the Year Competition final round and the Charity Tea Auction were special features which attracted the attention of all participants to the exhibition drew Russian tea connoisseurs and gourmet tea buyers to the Sri Lanka pavilion.

A presentation on Sri Lanka 's tea industry supported by audio visual screening strengthened the position of Ceylon Tea.A majestically constructed Sri Lanka tea pavilion covering 90 square metres in a prime location at Pavilion two of World Food was the centre of attraction to many visitors.

The stalls were well decorated with the Lion logo, seven GI logos and Ozone logo prominently highlighted in gigantic placards while rotating boxes in the shape of tea chests were mounted on top of the pavilion. Representing the private sector, eight reputed tea companies participated as exhibitors within the Sri Lanka Group Stand.

All the following companies had attractive displays of their range of tea packs and beautifully decorated stalls.A liquid tea service and a tasting session carried out throughout the exhibition period by two Russian girls clad in Tea Board batik saree added glamour to the environment.

They were guided by the new Tea Promotion Officer Tamara Nanayakkara in Moscow and Manel Weerasekera from the Tea Promotion Division in Colombo.

Black teas, Green teas, Flavoured teas and Speciality teas provided by the eight private sector tea companies from Sri Lanka were served to the visitors. Around 4,000 cups of Ceylon tea were served during the four days. The distribution of Ceylon Tea promotional materials was another popular feature. Teas sampled from all seven agro-climatic regions in Sri Lanka gave the opportunity for Russians to distinguish the difference in flavour, strength, colour and aroma establishing the diversity in Ceylon teas.

The Charity Tea Auction

The companies from Sri Lanka received nearly 250 trade inquiries for the supply of Ceylon Tea products to Russia and other CIS countries. While all the Sri Lankan tea exporters who participated were satisfied with the outcome at World Food 2011, activities carried out by Sri Lanka Tea Board for the promotion of Ceylon Tea enhanced the awareness and demand for the product.

"This year we took the World Food Exhibition by storm with a sterling performance and a Tea Pavilion which all our competitors envied", said Director (Promotion) Sri Lanka Tea Board Hasitha de Alwis,who led the delegation to Russia.

He said that "all in all, many of the other stall holders also prominently displayed Ceylon Tea packs. This resulted in Ceylon Teas' dominance of the entire tea and coffee hall at the exhibition". A Sri Lanka architect who graduated from Moscow, Sanath Abeysekera designed and constructed the pavilion for Ceylon Tea under the supervision of Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Udayanga Weeratunga winning the award for the best national Group Stand at World Food 2011.

The achievement gained at this important exhibition in Russia is tribute to the successful work done by the Sri Lanka tea exporters over the years.For the first time ever, Ceylon Tea was auctioned in Russia at the World Food exhibition.

Five kilos each of 09 gold winners, seven silver winners and seven bronze winners totalling 115 kilos of award winning teas were sold at the Charity Auction in Moscow generating nearly US$ 16,000 (Rs. 1.7 million). It works out to an average price of US$ 140 (Rs.15,000) per kilo which is a record achievement under any circumstances.

The highest bid was by Mlesna Russia at US$ 6000 for a five kilo lot of FBOPF Extra Special sold under the "Tea Bank" mark which won the gold award from Ruhuna agro-climatic region.

The performance of the Sri Lanka auctioneer Anil Cooke, President of Asia Siyaka Commodities (Pvt) Ltd., Colombo was extraordinary and not a single winning lot at the competition went unsold.

The Charity Tea Auction commenced with subdued bidding for the first few lots but the environment kept-on heating-up with fun-fare escalating and bidding getting stronger. Udayanga Weeratunga, Ambassador for Sri Lanka to Russia, the Chief Guest of the event himself, actively bid in support of Charity.

The experience of the market and the knowledge of the Russian language of the Sri Lanka Ambassador added great impetus to the project.

The Mlesna Moscow office emerged the most successful being able to out bid the audience and win six lots at the auction.

The Russian Federation continues to remain the single, largest buyer of "Ceylon Tea" with off-takes in the region of 45 to 50 million kilos per annum. "Despite the discriminative tariff and non-tariff barriers for exportation of Ceylon Teas in value added branded form, more than 15% of all teas from Sri Lanka still goes to Russia", according to Director (Promotion) at Tea Board.

It is also significant, that 30 percent of the tea market requirement in this former Soviet Union country is supplied by Sri Lanka despite severe competition from new entrants such as Kenya, Vietnam, China and Indonesia while traditional supplier during Communist era, namely India is making strong in-roads to reclaim market share.

Russia the undisputed leader in tea imports to the world purchasing 180 million kilos every year, constituting 10 percent of the global tea import trade. LF