A
presentation to the World Tea Forum 2004, Beijing, China
by Kaison Chang
Secretary, FAO Intergovenmental Group on Tea.
Introduction
On behalf
of FAO I should like to extend best wishes for a successful
and fruitful World Tea Forum 2004. It is indeed a great privilege
for me to address this Forum. I have been asked today to present
an evaluation of the present situation and possible developments
in the world tea economy over the next few years. Hence, I
will review the current global trends in supply and demand,
the likely future prospects, and the major issues facing the
tea industry.
Tea is one of the world's most important crops. It is
consumed as a beverage throughout the world and grown widely
in countries of Asia, Africa and the Near East. It has widespread
implications for the earnings and food security of farm communities,
particularly small-holders in these countries. Historically,
it has competed effectively in an increasingly crowded beverages
market, but indications are that it has lost ground, particularly
since the early to mid-nineties. Demand has become sluggish
and even declined in some of its traditional markets. Consequently,
prices have fallen in real terms as the imbalance between
production and consumption has grown. The production to consumption
ratio needs to be rationalized in order to attain remunerative
prices and hence, ensure the viability of the global tea economy.
The total area under tea in the world amounts to a little
more than 2.5 million hectares of which about 2.3 million
hectares were harvested in 2003. Asia accounted for 88.6 percent
of the total area harvested, followed by Africa with 9 percent
and the balance was shared between Oceania with 0.4 percent
(Papua New Guinea and Australia) and Latin America with 2
percent (mostly Argentina). Black tea dominates world tea
production accounting for more than 70 percent of the global
total in 2003, while green tea accounted for 22 percent. However,
green tea output has expanded faster at 2.5 percent over the
past decade compared to 1 percent for black tea.
Production
World tea production continued to reach new highs in 2003,
when output reached 3.15 million tonnes (Table 1). Major producing
countries included India, which accounted for about 28 percent
of world production; China, 24 percent; Sri Lanka, 10 percent;
Kenya, 10 percent; and Indonesia, 5 percent.
Production in India increased by more than 3 percent,
as output in the North of the country expanded, offsetting
the slight decline recorded in South India. The increase in
output was encouraged through a package of assistance to growers
which included a price sharing formula between growers and
manufacturers and subsidies for rehabilitation and replanting
of old tea bushes. Output in 2003 was 877 036 tonnes for the
country with 663 586 produced in the North and 193 414 in
the South.
地址：昆明市江岸小区51幢2单元701室 邮编：650224 电子邮件：hzlsky@126.com
联系方式：楚先生：13700679382 黄先生：13518742060 CONSULTANT：YI XU TEL：8613888350975 业务QQ:
ICP备00000000号