Pakistan eager to work with VN’s tea sector

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He said that Việt Nam should build a center for tea auctions to encourage farmers to raise the quality of their tea and create a healthy business environment and increase competition.
Also addressing the conference, President of the Vietnamese Tea Association Đoàn Anh Tuấn said that Việt Nam is one of the worlds major tea producers and the country is ranked fifth in terms of tea output and exports.

Việt Nam produced 130,000 tons in 2009, from only 55,700 tons in 2000. In the first seven months of this year, the nation exported 65,000 tons of tea, earning US $91 million, a year-on-year increase of 6%.

However, Việt Nam’s tea exports to Pakistan dropped this year with a volume equal to only 60% of the level in the same period last year and this resulted in Pakistan dropping to the second place in the list of the 70 countries that import Vietnamese tea.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country has almost 130,000 ha of tea, mostly in the northern midland provinces, producing an average of 6.5 tons per ha.
Previously, Việt Nam had produced black tea for export and green tea for domestic use and now the country has various kinds of tea products which meet diverse global demands.

The tea industry generates jobs for more than 6 million people in 34 provinces in the country and has made a remarkable contribution to socio-economic stability. It is also expected to be a lucrative crop for farmers in the future.

In order to develop the tea industry sustainably, Lê Xuân, the head of the department for agro-forestry and salt processing, said that it is necessary to monitor the tea acreage, improve technical management and the quality of tea products./.