Indonesia Tea Export to Increase by 8 Pct This Year

Indonesia's tea export may rise by 8 percent this year on the back of stronger demand, National Tea Council chairman Abdul Halik said.

International demand for our tea will likely increase as demand for tea from Kenya and Srilanka. the world's largest tea exporters, is predicted to decrease this year, he was quote by the Jakarta Post as saying Wednesday.

As the sixth-largest tea producer, Indonesia mostly ships the commodity to countries in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Eastern Europe.

Indonesia holds 6 percent of the global tea market, trailing Vietnam, which has 7 percent, India at 13 percent and Kenya and Srilanka, which both hold 20 percent, according to the council.

The country's tea production this year is predicted to be 160, 000 tons, but Halik said product quality remained a problem.

Indonesia produced 167,000 tons of tea last year, 23 percent of which came from public plantations, 54 percent from state-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara and 23 percent from private companies.

Indonesia has 136,000 hectares of tea plantation, with the largest area in West Java, followed by Central Java and North Sumatra.

Source: CRIEnglish