Tea exports up in both volume and value in the first six months

In the first half of 2021, Vietnamese tea increased by 4.4% of total export value and by 4.1% of average export price over the same period in 2020.

Workers collect tea at Su Anh Tea Cooperative, Tuyen Quang province. Photo: Bao Thang.

According to the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in the first six months of 2021, tea exports reached 58,100 tons, worth USD 94.9 million, up 0.3% in volume and 4.4% in value over the previous year. The average export price of tea in the first half of 2021 was USD 1,632.9 per ton, up 4.1% over the same period last year.

The three main export markets for Vietnamese tea in the first six months of the year are Pakistan, Taiwan and Russia. Exports to these three countries accounted for 55.4% of total tea exports.

Regarding the growth rate, the export volume and value to Pakistan and Taiwan have increased significantly. The strongest increase was in exports to China, Iraq and India. In particular, the volume and value of exports to the Indian market are considered to be a “hot growth”.

Just in June 2021 alone, according to the General Department of Customs (Ministry of Finance), Vietnam's tea exports reached 11,100 tons, worth USD 19.6 million, down 7.8% in volume and down 2.4%. in value in comparison to June 2020. However, the average export price of tea in June 2021 has reached USD 1,761.1 per ton, up 5.8% compared to June 2020.

According to the International Trade Center (ITC), there is still plenty of room for Vietnamese tea to be exported to the Russian market. In 2020, Russia reduced tea imports by 7.9%, but in the first four months of 2021, the country increased by 4.8% in import volume. The average tea import price of Russia during this period was USD 2,907.1/ton.

Russia sharply increased tea imports from many main markets in the first four months of 2021, but reduced imports from Vietnam. Tea imports from Vietnam reached 4,000 tons, valued at USD 6.7 million, down 18.9% in volume and 15.8% in value over the same period in 2020. The price of imported tea from Vietnam was at a stable level, USD 1,684.4/ton, up 3.8% over the same period in 2020. The imports proportion from Vietnam accounted for 10.6%, down 3 percentage points over the same period in 2020.

The reason, according to ITC, is that Vietnam's tea exports to the Russian market are mainly preliminarily processed in raw form, with low quality and low value.

In terms of categories, Russia mostly imports black tea. In the first 4 months of 2021, the country imported 47,900 tons, valued at USD 137.5 million, up 4.2% in volume and 12.8% in value over the same period in 2020.

Russia is currently the world's third largest tea import market in terms of value in 2020. Russia's tea import share accounts for 6.2% of the total global tea import value. As claimed by ITC, if Vietnam wants to boost exports to Russia, they need to strongly invest in production lines and put preliminarily processed tea products into processing. Moreover, Vietnamese businesses must focus on building labels, contributing to increasing surplus value.