Tea Report
Plight Worsens as Sri Lanka Tea Growers Exhaust Fertilizer Stocks
Sri Lanka began September under a government-declared state of economic emergency, rationing goods amid a foreign exchange crisis that will likely require a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Read more
Expect a Holiday Spending Burst, but the Pandemic is Not Over
Tea retailers that survived 2020 were saved by pivoting online and the striking uptake in sales of packaged tea in grocery and mass-market outlets. Read more
Mapping the Chemical Footprint of Tea
The Institute for Global Food Security is analyzing the leaf chemistry of tea sampled from a broad range of geographical locations to create a map identifying the “chemical fingerprint” of tea. Read more
India’s Largest Tea Supplier, McLeod Russel Faces Insolvency
When executives of tea giant McLeod Russel India signed off on their latest financial report, they did so with an ominous warning from their auditor signed June 23. Read more
Tea Benefits Children Onward from Age 4
Tea not only calms and soothes, relieving stress and aiding relaxation, drinking tea strengthens the cardiovascular system, builds immunity, and helps children from the age of four combat obesity. Read more
Lipton Tea Brand Breakup; Unilever Brand Divestiture
Declining sales of low-cost commodity grade black teas in developed markets due to changing tastes convinced Unilever to sell most of its $3 billion tea portfolio. The separation of the brands is now complete with a sale likely by year-end. Read more
Pandemic Reshuffles Tea Export Rankings
Global tea exports through the spring months of 2021 had not offset setbacks in 2020 when tea sales from all countries declined to $7.1 billion, a shortfall of -8.6% compared to 2019. Read more
Electronic Noses: the Emerging Science of Tea Aromas
Electronic noses are devices that, as the name implies, mimic human smelling and evaluation of aromas. For close to a decade, they have produced striking results in more and more areas of tea processing and quality management. Read more
Nayuki IPO: Global Plans for China Tea Chain
Investors could not get enough bubble tea as fruit, bubble, and cream-cheese tea chain Nayuki debuted with a US$656 million offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Read more
Sri Lanka Aims for Cleanest Tea in the World
Growers in Sri Lanka are furious at government officials who essentially cut off the supply of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides in a broad and controversial edict to make the tea grown there pristine and profitable. Read more
Pandemic Powers Organic Food Sales
The Organic Trade Association reports that US sales of organic food and beverages set a record in 2020, growing 12.4% to $62 billion. The total includes organic food, which grew by 12.8% to $56.4 billion. Read more
Logistics in Disarray: Delivering Tea on Time
Covid-19 restrictions slowed processing but factory output remained steady and warehouse space quickly filled in producing countries. Ground transport remains severely limited in India... Read more
India Tea Dealt Double Blow
Little early-spring rainfall in Assam and West Bengal curtailed plucking and idled factories that are now contending with logistics challenges tied to a massive surge of Covid-19 infections. Many workers are on leave during the slowdown and lockdown. Read more
The Bosporus Tea Party: Turkish Tea Thrives in Lockdown
For a lot of Turkish people, life would be empty without the coffeehouse. In a country of 82 million people, coffeehouses function more as social clubs than mere places to sip a hot beverage. Read more
Tea Stands Out in Grocery
Center-aisle categories like tea rarely accelerate at growth rates faster than advertising-driven fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories – but that is exactly what happened in 2020. Read more
Tata Tea Pulls Out of US Foodservice
The sharp decline in tea sales to foodservice and office coffee distributors in 2020 forced many smaller specialty distributors to exit or consolidate. Read more
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