According to the statistics of the General Department of Customs, in January 2024, Vietnam’s tea exports reached 12,398 tons, worth over 21 million USD, a decrease of 9.7% in volume and 10% in value compared to the previous month but an increase of about 85% in both volume and value compared to the same period in 2023.
In terms of the average export price, in January 2024, the average export price of Vietnamese tea reached 1,694 USD/ton, equivalent to the same period in 2023 but a slight decrease of 3% compared to the average export price for the whole year of 2023.
In terms of export markets, in January 2024, Vietnamese tea was exported to 16 markets, a decrease of 1 market compared to January 2023 (Philippines), and a decrease of 3 markets compared to the whole year of 2023 (Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, and Kuwait).
Among them, Pakistan continues to be the largest export market for Vietnamese tea, accounting for 36.7% of the total volume and 43.7% of the total export value of the country, with 4,556 tons, equivalent to nearly 9.2 million USD, an increase of 33% in volume and 52% in value compared to the same period last year. The export price of tea to Pakistan reached 2,013 USD/ton, higher than the average export price of the whole market.
The second market is Taiwan (China) with 928 tons of tea, worth nearly 1.4 million USD, an increase of 86% in volume and 87% in value. Taiwan has moved up 1 rank in the ranking of the largest tea export markets of Vietnam.
The United States has become the third largest tea export market in January 2024, with 913 tons, equivalent to a trade value of over 1.2 million USD, an increase of 191% in volume and almost double in value compared to the same period. Meanwhile, the United States is known for its coffee culture and has large coffee chains like Starbucks.
It is noteworthy that China is also a large tea exporter in the world. According to experts in the industry, China’s reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic is the main factor driving strong tea exports to this market in the early months of this year.
The average per capita tea consumption in China is currently 1.36 kg/person/year. To meet consumer demand, especially young people, the tea product structure in China is gradually changing, leading to increased imports.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam currently has 120 thousand hectares of tea plantation area. The country has 257 industrial-scale tea processing enterprises, with a total design capacity of 5.2 thousand tons of fresh bud/day, employing 220 thousand workers to produce nearly 200 thousand tons of products each year.
Vietnam is increasingly gaining advantages in production and consumption cooperation of tea in China. Specifically, China is facing the aging of tea varieties. Long-established tea gardens over 25 years old account for 1/4 of the total area, with slow growth of tea plants, imbalanced nutrition, and low productivity. In addition, China is also experiencing a shortage of skilled tea pickers, which poses difficulties for the production of high-quality tea and annual labor cost increases…
