# Tea

Processed leaves of an evergreen bush: an everyday drink whose world price is still found mostly at auctions, not exchanges.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/

Softs · No. 100

- Not on a critical list
- HHI 2,953 · highly concentrated
 Softs · Foundation · Matter

In an age of electronic trading, the world's tea is still priced every week by brokers and bidders at auctions.

Chart: Illustration: Tea

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Tea bushes grow on wet, acid hill slopes, are pruned to waist height and plucked for decades. Leaf must reach a factory within hours. Output was 32.7 Mt of fresh leaf in 2024.

##### Three things to know

1. China grew almost half the world's tea leaves in 2024 (49.7%), and India 18.8%.
2. Tea's ten-year price range, $2.13 to $3.37/kg, is far narrower than Arabica coffee's $2.66 to $9.05/kg.
3. China, Kenya and Sri Lanka each supplied about a fifth of world tea export value in 2024.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Tea bushes**Pruned to waist height on hillsides
2. 2 **Plucking**Leaf picked every week or two
3. 3 **Withering**Withered, rolled or cut by CTC
4. 4 **Oxidation**Oxidised for black, steamed for green
5. 5 **Auction**Graded and sold at weekly auctions
6. 6 **Packing**Blended and packed for shops
 Covered in [What makes something a commodityCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/what-is-a-commodity/)[Prices and cyclesCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/prices-and-cycles/)[How commodities tradeCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/how-commodities-trade/)[The laws of energy: conservation, entropy and efficiencyEnergy](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/energy/laws-of-energy/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/links/index.md)