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Global community keenly looking forward to Chinese tea party

KOLKATA: The tea industry the world over is keenly looking forward to a Chinese tea party beginning next week. The Chinese tea industry has decided to showcase itself over a two-day session beginning May 12.

The events are being held to coincide with the two-day joint meeting of the Intergovernmental Group on Tea beginning May 14 which will be held under the auspices of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in Hangzhou, some 150 km from the tea-growing region of Shanghai.

“The global tea community is very enthusiastic about a workshop that is being held to discuss various aspects of the Chinese tea industry and are hoping that there might be some field visits to the gardens and the factories too,” a member of the Indian delegation to the meet told The Hindu. The workshop is being organised by the Tea Science Society of China where a paper would be read by an official of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.

Billed as the world’s largest tea producer, China’s forte has been green tea, the virtues of which are being rediscovered by the world now. However of late, China has also become a major producer of black tea.

China’s growth comes from small holdings spread over some 12,000 hectares which is about 2.5 times more than the acreage under tea cultivation in India.

According to FAO statistics, China produced 1,050 million kg in 2006 when world production reached a record 3,527 million kg. Clocking a 9.5 per cent growth rate, this was a second year of record crop for the industry with the growth being underpinned by government policies aimed at increasing rural household incomes. A move is afoot to put in place a system for geographical indication (GI) for single-origin teas.

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