TAIPEI, Taiwan
Taiwan Council of Agriculture officials and prominent tea leaders welcomed greater levels of cooperation with India during recent high-level meetings with India Tea Board Chairman M.G.V.K. Bhanu.
Taiwan is a significant manufacturer of bottled teas and is seeking trading partners and suppliers, according to India-Taipei Association director general Pradeep Kumar Rawat.
Rawat told INS of his organization's desire to publicize and popularize Indian tea in Taiwan.
"The ready-to-drink (RTD) segment offers huge scope for expansion as the masala (chai) tea is very popular in Taiwan," Rawat said.
Tea imports have increased as the total area of tea farms on the island has dwindled to 15,000 hectares (37,050 acres), less than half the size in the post-World War II heyday. Exports have declined since 1973 when a record 23,000 metric tons of the total 28,000 tons produced that year were shipped overseas, mainly China and Japan. Growers now concentrate on producing more lucrative oolong which sells for thousands of dollars a pound.
A substantial amont of tea grown in Indonesia lands in Taiwan according to Chiu Chui-feng, a senior researcher at the state-run Tea Research and Extension Station.
"The imports are simply to meet the low-priced demand and have posed no threat to Taiwan's high-priced tea," he told the publication Sin Chew Jit Poh.
The imported low-cost tea leaves are mostly used in the manufacturing of cheap bottled tea drinks which are popular among young consumers, he said.
Sources: INS and Sin Chew Jit Poh