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A Taiwan-China trade pact that took effect Sunday to pave the way for tariff cuts from next year has not cheered Taiwanese tea farmers, who are more concerned about the rising imports of pesticide-contaminated tea from China into Taiwan.

Although China is Taiwan’s largest tea export market, Lin Yu-ping, one of Taiwan’s many small tea farmers, believes it is unlikely that local farmers will be able to sell their premium products in China.

“Taiwan does not produce quality tea in large amounts, and cannot even meet local demand, ” she told CNA in a telephone interview Saturday.

Read the full story at Focus Taiwan

Each year, Vietnam produces 180,000 tonnes of tea including 130,000 tonnes for export, earning US$79 million. Currently, it ranks fifth in the world in both production and export volume.

Over the past 15 years, the tea sector has surpassed its set targets for cultivated acreage, productivity and export volume. But export tea prices are lower than those in other countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.

Vietnam has a total area of 120,000 hectares of tea grown in 34 provinces, mostly in the northern mountainous and central highland regions.

In 2009, the average price of tea in those countries was US$2.43 per kilo while Vietnamese tea stood at US$1.23 per kilo.

Between 1998 and this year, the world’s average tea price increased by 18 percent while Vietnam’s tea price fell by 20 percent.

Red the full story at VOV News

HA NOI — Viet Nam earned US$178 million from tea exports last year, a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

This represents an increase of 27.34 percentage points in volume and 21.3 percentage points in value over 2008.

Nguyen Kim Phong, chairman of the Viet Nam Tea Association, said in December alone, Viet Nam exported 11,000 tonnes of tea, an increase of 1,000 tonnes over November.

According to Phong, changing consumer preferences has helped the tea industry overcome challenges posed by the global recession.

Read the full story at Viet Nam News