As leaders in supply chain processing and innovation, the Xiaoguan Tea company spearheaded the new initiative to formulate national standards for the Chinese tea industry. Photo credit: Xiaoguan Tea
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (National Standardization Management Committee) recently released the official national standard, Technical Specifications for Tea Supply Chain Management, effective April 1, 2026. As the first national protocol of this kind, its release marks a breakthrough in the standardization and systematization of the Chinese tea industry's supply chain.
For traditional tea companies whose development has been limited by inadequate supply chain management, this protocol is of significant value. The standard stipulates the technical and management measures and requirements for each stage of the tea supply chain, including procurement, processing, packaging, warehousing, transportation, and sales.
This will not only help tea companies reduce operating costs through unified supply chain management standards but also promote improvements in product operational levels and management efficiency, enhance product quality stability, and provide authoritative guidance to help tea companies achieve full-process quality control, efficiency improvement, and cost optimization. By standardizing the entire supply chain, it achieves full control and traceability from the tea garden to the teacup, building a more comprehensive system within the industry.
Although the country's tea industry has had a number of product and quality mandates, it has also faced problems, including a lack of standards, fragmented processes, and opaque information in supply chain collaborative management, which have seriously hindered the industry's overall competitiveness.
From a broader perspective, this standard is also a crucial support for China's tea industry in integrating into the modern global distribution system and participating in international competition. Against the backdrop of consumption upgrading and globalization, the standardization and transparency of the supply chain have become key elements in enhancing the international reputation of Chinese tea brands.
Drafting the protocol took three years, with multiple rounds of research and discussion, opinion solicitation, and expert review. The national standard was spearheaded by Huangshan Xiaoguan Tea Co., Ltd., in collaboration with the China National Institute of Standardization, China Tea Marketing Association, Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, Anhui Agricultural University, Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hunan Agricultural University, and dozens of additional tea industry enterprises.
Xiaoguan Tea's ability to lead the formulation of national standards for the tea industry supply chain stems from its long-term investment in the entire tea industry chain. The company has taken the lead in building a modern industrial system that connects upstream and downstream operations, while traditional tea companies still largely rely on workshop-style production.
Xiaoguan Tea's super factory, based in Huangshan city’s high-tech zone, the first Industry 4.0 smart factory in China, achieves efficient linkage between fully automated production lines and intelligent warehousing systems, with each tea leaf undergoing multiple quality control tests. The mature Industry 4.0 model also provided important practical reference for the formulation of new national standards.