From shipping routes to fuel and fertilizer shortages and market blockades, some of the world’s top tea exporters face severe setbacks as the conflict in Iran continues. Photo credit: Free World Maps
As the US-Israel war against Iran continues, four of the world’s top tea-exporting countries — Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, and Vietnam — face disruptions to tea production and exports, leaving shipments valued at tens of millions of dollars in limbo, sending shockwaves through the economies in each country, and impacting the livelihoods of tea industry workers around the world.
Kenya
Around 267 shipping containers filled with tea were stuck in the Kenyan port of Mombasa as of March 20, according to warehouse manager Erick Onyango in an interview with Al Jazeera. “The warehouse is full right now because the teas are not moving,” he noted.
The sudden pause in exports has forced Kenyan companies to furlough workers until normal shipping can resume, allowing the port to clear its current backlog. Meanwhile, auction rooms, typically bustling with activity, sit eerily empty.
According to the Tea Board of Kenya, Iran is one of the top importers of Kenyan tea, with imports totaling around $32.8 million in 2024. Pakistan imported $557.1 million worth of tea in the same year, accounting for 34.7% of Kenya’s total tea export volume.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan tea exports face similar congestion at local and intermediary ports. Reports of packed warehouses, full containers unable to ship, and shipments being returned to senders led the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Anura Karanathilaka to recommend that tea traders hold back on bringing further tea shipments to harbors, according to a report by Sri Lanka Guardian.
The Sri Lankan newspaper EconomyNext estimates weekly losses of $10-15 million in Sri Lanka’s tea industry while the conflict continues.
Iran is a crucial destination for Sri Lankan tea, as Sri Lanka currently has a barter arrangement with Iran to repay a $251 million debt for oil purchases, and US sanctions prohibit the direct use of US dollars in transactions with Iran.
India
Amid tightening oil supply, tea producers in Darjeeling are facing shortages and rationing of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a fuel critical to tea production. As Darjeeling enters the harvesting season for its internationally renowned first-flush tea, the Darjeeling Tea Association has submitted an urgent request to India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to allow tea producers greater access to LPG during the critical first-flush production window, emphasizing that the tea industry in Darjeeling supports 55,000 workers.
According to a report by Business Standard, Darjeeling’s first and second flush teas constitute 40% of the region’s annual tea production, but generate 80% of its annual revenue.
India’s total tea export volume set a record high of 281 million kilograms in 2025, valued at approximately $1 billion — 43% of that amount was exported to destinations in the Middle East, which are currently at risk due to the ongoing conflict.
Vietnam
Rocked by fuel shortages and logistical pains, both Vietnam’s tea and coffee industries face disruptions to production and shipment, with reports of tea shipments bound for Afghanistan being returned mid-route. In the current environment, producers are reluctant to begin this year’s spring harvest, resulting in delayed plucking and reduced product quality.
One example is Ban Lau Commune in Lao Cai Province. Around 1,400 tons of tea remain stuck there, and the People’s Committee is taking drastic steps to keep the spring harvest moving, requesting that the Provincial People’s Council offer interest rate subsidies on tea production loans to ensure that the tea fields can continue to support the local workforce of around 3,000 harvesters.
More than half of Vietnamese tea exports in 2025 were destined for countries near Iran, including Pakistan (47.3%), Saudi Arabia (2.6%), and Iraq (2.2%), with a total value exceeding $117 million. Much of the tea bound for Pakistan continues on to Afghanistan, making Afghanistan the largest destination market for Vietnamese commodity teas.
Than Ngu of Vietnamese tea export company Vostea regards this as a major liability. “Vietnam depends too much on the Afghanistan market,” he says. “It started about 30 years ago. Vietnam began replacing Bangladesh and Indonesia as a supplier in 1998. So about 50% of Vietnamese tea goes to Afghanistan.”
However, finding alternative markets for Vietnamese teas bound for Afghanistan may prove difficult. Over the last decade, production methods for these particular teas have been adjusted to suit the requests of tea brokers in Afghanistan, and include the addition of sweetener, cardamom, and coloring to create a more vibrant green that appeals to customers.
“About 50% of [Vietnamese teas] cannot be exported to other countries,” says Than. “That’s a problem. Vietnamese [tea producers] should be finding ways to reach more markets by improving the quality and cleanliness of our teas, and we are looking for partners to do this.”