India displaces Lanka as main tea exporter to Russia

Sri Lanka has lost to India as the largest exporter of tea to Russia, by far the world’s biggest market for the beverage.

Ceylon Tea Brokers Plc said India in 2015 had exported 45.70 MT to Russia, up by 6.74 MT over 2014, whereas Sri Lanka’s exports amounted to only 36.74MT in 2015, down from 44.13 MT in the previous year.

India has also increased its export volumes to Iran in 2015 to 20.33 MT from 18.68 MT in 2014 (+1.65 MT).

India has already requested the Iranian Government to lower the tariffs on tea exports from India in order to increase its market share. Iran was the third largest importer of Ceylon Tea as at end February 2016.

It also appears that India is gradually increasing its market share in European countries.

India has increased its total export volumes in 2015 to 217.67 MT from 207.44 MT in 2014 (+10.23 MT). 

Sri Lanka commands less than 3% market share in three of the four biggest importers of tea in the world, namely, Pakistan, USA and United Kingdom, according to Ceylon Tea Brokers Plc.