May 2016
CCP:TE 16/CRS6
E
COMMITTEE ON COMMODITY PROBLEMS
INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP ON TEA
Twenty-second Session
Naivasha, Kenya, 25-27 May 2016
CURRENT SITUATION OF TEA PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN
CHINA
Tea Production
1. Production capacity
In 2014, the Chinese tea plantation area is 2.72 million hectares, the producing area is 2.08 million
hectares, with a year-on-year growth of 10.17% and 12.00%, respectively. The total production in
2014 is 2.10 million tons, with a year-on-year growth of 9.12%. The total output value is 127.0 billion
RMB yuan, which has increased 27.32%. The plantation area, the production and the output value of
Chinese tea showed an increasing trend in recent five years generally (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
Figure 1. The changes of tea plantation area and production in 2010-2014
300
Plantation area
250
200
150
197.02
147.51
211.26
162.32
164.46
142.61
227.99
178.90
173.52
Production
272.00
210.00
246.88
192.45
150.00
185.72
采摘面积（万公顷）
总产量（万吨）
Producing area (Ten thousand ha)
50
0
2009
200.00
208.00
Plantation
area (Ten thousand ha)
总面积（万公顷）
100
250.00
100.00
50.00
Production (Ten thousand ton)
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
0.00
2015
2
CCP:TE 16/CRS6
Figure 2. The total output value and its annual growth rate in 2005-2014
1400
1200
Total output value
(100 million yuan)
50.00%
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Total 总产值（亿元）
output value
年增长率（%）
Annual
growth rate
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
The per unit area yield had been increasing from 2005 to 2010, the yield was 1034.34 kilogram per
hectare in 2010. As for 2011, the yield was decreased to 987.00 kilogram per hectare due to the
disastrous weather such as cold spell in later spring or drought. The amount of abandoned plucking tea
gardens is increasing in recent two years due to the effects of market demand and prime cost, The per
unit area yield is stabilized at around 1000 kilogram per hectare (Figure 3).
Figure 3. The per unit area yield in the past decade
1050.00
The per
unit area yield
单产
（千克/公顷）
1031.011036.21
1009.62
1034.34
1023.34
(Kg/ha)
987.00
971.25 980.20
1000.00
934.55
950.00
897.22
900.00
850.00
800.00
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2. Product structure
Affected by market demand, the structure of Chinese tea industry has been adjusting itself. The
developments of various kinds of tea, such as green tea, oolong tea, black tea, dark tea and scented tea,
are formed a comprehensive and harmonious pattern progressively. In 2004 the productions of green
tea, oolong tea and black tea are 1.344 million tons, 0.231 million tons and 0.231 million respectively,
the proportions of these three are 64%, 11%, and 11%, respectively. Green tea still maintains the
absolute dominance, oolong tea and black tea are running neck and neck. According to Table 1 and
Figure 4, the production of oolong tea decreases in recent two years affected by market adjustment. In
the main time, black tea production is in continuous growth, the production of 2014 is 0.231 million
tons which has doubled compared to 2011 and the proportion has been increasing form 7% to 11%.
The production of dark tea grows rapidly as well, which increases from 64, 000 tons to 151,000 tons.
The productions of other kinds of tea are steady comparatively.
CCP:TE 16/CRS6
Category
Green
tea
Black
tea
Oolong
tea
Dark
tea
Others
tea
3
Table 1. The productions and proportions of various kinds of tea in 2000-2014
2013
2006
2010
2011
2012
2014
1.314
Production(MT)
0.764
1.046
1.138
1.248
1.344
68
Proportion (%)
74.31
70.94
70.09
69.72
64.00
Production(MT)
0.160
0.048
0.068
0.114
0.132
0.231
Proportion (%)
8.31
4.70
4.62
7.00
7.4
11.00
Production(MT)
0.237
0.116
0.180
0.199
0.218
0.231
Proportion (%)
12.3
11.30
12.20
12.31
12.2
11.00
Production(MT)
0.092
0.028
0.041
0.064
0.079
0.151
Proportion (%)
4.78
2.80
2.81
3.91
4.5
7.20
Production(MT)
0.110
0.071
0.139
0.109
0.112
0.143
Proportion (%)
5.73
6.89
9.43
6.69
6.24
6.8
Figure 4. The product structure of Chinese tea in 2006-2014
2.80% 3.05%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
3.08%
3.32% 2.81% 3.91%
4.46%
5%
11.30% 11.13% 11.46% 11.70% 12.20% 12.31% 12.18%
12.30%
4.70% 4.56% 5.54% 5.29% 4.62%
7.00% 7.40% 8.31%
7.20%
11%
11%
黑茶
Dark tea
Oolong tea
乌龙茶
74.31% 74.99% 73.68% 74.05% 70.94%
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
红茶
Black tea
70.09% 69.75%
2011
2012
68%
2013
64%
绿茶
Green tea
2014
Tea Marketing
1. Domestic consumption
China is the largest tea consumption country, the domestic consumption is increasing with the
improvement of living standards of residents. The statistics of ITC show that the annual per capita tea
consumption is 0.37 kilogram in 2000-2002, it increases to 1.04 kilogram in 2011-2013 with an annual
growth rate of 10.89%. However, there is still a big gap between China and other countries such as
Kuwait, Ireland, Turkey, Afghanistan and Britain. China still has lots of space to enhance its domestic
consumption quantity of tea.
4
CCP:TE 16/CRS6
Figure 5. The trend of the per capita tea consumption in the past decade
Kilogram
per capita
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.5
0.44
0.4
0.38
0.2
0.57
0.79
0.7
0.63
0.87
0.95
1.04
0
2. Exportation trade
In recent years, the Chinese tea export value has been rising constantly, however the export quantity
fluctuates significantly, the exportation trade remains stagnant. In 2011 and 2013, the quantity of
Chinese tea were both over 0.32 million tons. But in 2012 and 2014, the export quantity decreased. In
2014, the total export quantity was 0.301 million tons with a year-on-year decrease of 7.5%. The
export quantity of green tea was 0.249 million tons with a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%, the black tea
was 28000 tons with a decrease of 15.6%, the oolong tea was 15000 tons with a decrease of 9.7%, the
scented tea was 6000 tons with a decrease of 15.7%, the pu-er tea (dark tea) was 3400 tons with a
decrease of 25%. The export value shows a trend of growth due to the increasing unit price of tea. For
the last decade, the average annual growth rate of Chinese tea export value reached to 11.31%. In
2014, the export value was 12.7 billion dollar with a year-on-year increase of 2.21% (Figure 6).
Figure 6. The trend of tea exportation in the past decade
10000 tons
33
32.5
32
100million USD
出口量（万吨）
Export
quantity
32.26
出口额（亿美元）
Export
value
14
32.58 12.70
10.42
12
12.47
10
31.5
31
30.5
30
6.04
5.47
30.30
31.35
8
30.25
6
30.10
29.69
29.5
29
28.5
9.65
7.84
7.05
6.82
28.66
4
28.96
2
28
2005
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
CCP:TE 16/CRS6
5
Figure 7. The structural change of Chinese tea exportation in recent years
9.16%
15.54%
16.09%
9.25%
14.93%
8.73%
100%
80%
11.03%
11.26%
11.44%
11.40%
10.09%
10.29%
8.14%
9.21%
13.77%
11.39%
红茶
60%
40%
特种茶
Special tea
Black tea
79.81% 73.19% 79.32% 72.51% 81.18% 74.78% 82.65% 74.84%
绿茶
Green tea
20%
0%
出口量 出口额 出口量 出口额 出口量 出口额 出口量 出口额
Quantity
Quantity
Quantity
Quantity
Value
2011
Value
2012
Value
2013
Value
2014
The structural change of Chinese tea exportation in recent years is shown on Figure 7. Green tea is still
the major product for export in China, which makes up three quarters of the world green tea
exportation. The export quantity of black tea is decreasing gradually, there is only 28000 tons black
tea exported in 2014 and the proportion becomes 9.21%. The other kinds of special tea such as oolong
tea and pu-er tea has become an important part of Chinese tea exportation. But the total export
quantity of special tea is still relatively low compared to green tea. The annual average export quantity
of special tea is 34100 tons during 2006 to 2010, however the number decreases to 27900 tons during
2011 to 2014. The special tea has not achieved major breakthrough in the international export market.
Under the precondition of stabilizing the green tea export market, China needs to further exploit
markets for Chinese black tea and other kinds of tea in order to increase the total export quantity. In
recent years, China’s tea export markets have no obvious change, the top five importer of Chinese tea
are Morocco, Uzbekistan, Togo, Japan and America. 70% importers are developing countries and
regions. Morocco heads the list for a long time and it accounts for 17% of the gross Chinese tea export
quantity.