Vietnam tea exports ranked fifth worldwide

Vietnam is now the seventh biggest tea producer in the world and the fifth biggest exporter of the product.

Women working on a green tea field (Photo: kinhtevn.com.vn)
Women working on a green tea field (Photo: kinhtevn.com.vn)

According to the department of farm produce processing and market development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, more than 500 tea factories are operational in the country. Together they produce more than 500,000 tonnes of dried tea leaves annually.

Despite the high production, the export value of Vietnamese tea products is half the average global price. The main cause of this is that Vietnamese tea products are yet to meet standards set by foreign importers.

Vietnam shipped 34,000 tonnes of tea overseas for US$54 million during January – April, a decrease of 10.2% and 3.6%, respectively, from the same period of 2017.

Prices of exported tea in the first quarter averaged US$1,546 per tonne, up 7.5% year on year. The biggest buyers of Vietnamese tea were Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan (China), Indonesia, the US, China and Malaysia.

Pakistan continued to be Vietnam’s largest tea importer in terms of turnover. The country purchased 4,060 tonnes or 16% of Vietnam’s total tea exports, for US$8.45 million, down 28.9% in volume and 19.2% in value. The decline was a result of a stricter Pakistani tea import rules.