Global Dubai Tea Forum 2014 opens

Wednesday, Apr 09, 2014

Dubai: The 5th edition of the Global Dubai Tea Forum 2014 (GDTF), hosted by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), opened on Wednesday.

The forum discussed the latest international import and export trends and Dubai’s position as a global tea trading hub due to its infrastructure and geographical position.

Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC, who spoke at the forum, said that the volume of tea handled through the DMCC Tea Centre and the volume that flowed through Dubai increased by 29 per cent to 129,000 tonnes last year.

“Tea comes into Dubai in bulk, which is can then be blended and packaged in loose tea form or tea bags to be re-exported. One of our strategic goals is diversifying our product lines to include specialty teas and further improving our facilities and services available to our customers,” said Sanjeev Dutta, Director of the DMCC Tea Centre, in a statement.

Producing countries

The UAE is the fourth importing country (109,000 tonnes) and the largest re-exporter of tea globally, with more than 60 per cent of the world’s market share.

Four countries produce approximately 70 per cent of the world’s tea, including China (35 per cent), India (20 per cent), Kenya (8 per cent) and Sri Lanka (7 per cent).

Kenya, Sri Lanka, China and India’s annual tea exports stand at 396,000 tonnes, 318,000 tonnes, 300,000 tonnes and 203,000 tonnes, respectively.

In terms of tea imports, Russia was the top ranking country with 182,000 tonnes, followed by the UK (157,000 tonnes) and the US (116,000 tonnes).

Staff Report