Newby Teas yesterday opened a regional office in Dubai with the aim of capturing a $50 million (Dh182m) share of the Middle East's hospitality tea market within five years.
The London-based company which is part of the N Sethia Group has created saffron, mint and cinnamon tea flavours with the Middle East market in mind.
Chairman and founder Nirmal Sethia said Newby Teas would first target the hotel, restaurant and catering sector valued at $200m (Dh734m) in the Middle East and is currently in discussions with a number of fivestar hotels in Dubai.
Newby Teas is also negotiating with Spinneys and Carrefour to stock its products and these are expected to be on sale by June this year.
"We believe the Middle East has been undersupplied in terms of quality tea," said Sethia.
"We have been surprised by the lack of premium tea available in a region that accounts for 10 per cent of the $20 billion (Dh73m) worldwide tea market.
"Some of these so-called premium brands do not even have their own production facility." Meanwhile, Newby opened a new tea factory in Calcutta, and is planning to open a sister facility in Dubai.
Sethia says he believes consumers are willing to pay a premium for top quality tea.
Worldwide market for tea
The United Kingdom is the world's number one tea importer, followed by Russia and the United States.
Russia is Newby Tea's largest market, partly as a legacy of former Cold War economic agreements between the USSR and India, which saw large quantities of premium tea exported from the latter to the former.
Newby Tea Chairman Nirmal Sethia said he expects the Middle East to become the company's second largest market.
By Matt Smith
© Emirates Today 2007
