tea

" World tea production continued to reach new highs in 2004, when output grew by 2 percent to reach an estimated 3.2 million tons The major producers of tea are India, China, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, with many countries producing lesser amounts. The major consumers include India, China, Turkey, and Japan. The expansion in production was due mainly to the increases recorded in China, Turkey, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In China, tea output for 2004 approached the 800,000 tons milestone as policy initiatives to promote production and trade of tea began to have an impact on the sector. World tea exports increased by 4.4 percent in 2004 to reach 1.47 million tons, as shipments from all major exporting countries increased during the year. Tea exports from China expanded by more than seven percent to reach 282,000 tons, and were dominated by green tea, which accounted for more than 75 percent of its total exports. World net tea imports continued to increase in 2004, by 1.5 percent, reaching 1.42 million tons. This trend reflected the increases in traditional developed country markets of the European Community (an increase of 2.4 percent), the United States (5.3 percent) and Japan (2 percent), where imports reached 215 000 tons, 99 000 tons and 56 000 tons, respectively. A recent study on the market evolution between 1993/1995 and 2001/2003 indicated that, out of 27 agricultural commodities, tea showed the second lowest variability in prices: 2％ decline compared to 39％ for cocoa and 38％ for coffee."