Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Tea: Overview

Black, green, oolong and the tea in your bottle

What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.

Key uses

UseShareAnnual volumeWhy this commodityAlternatives
CTC black tea for milk tea and tea bags (India, Kenya, Pakistan, Egypt, UK)n/a India alone had about 1,150 million kg available for home use in 2025 (production 1,395.5 mkg minus exports 285.5 mkg plus imports about 39.7 mkg)basis CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea brews fast and strong and stands up to milk and sugar, which suits Indian chai and tea bags. Kenya and Assam produce it cheaply in volume. Pakistan, Egypt and the UK are big buyers of Kenyan CTC. Tea Board of India annual production 2025; Indian Tea Association, Tea India 2026 Coffee
Orthodox black tea
Soft drinks and other beverages
Green tea (China, Japan, Vietnam)n/a China grew 49.7% of world tea leaf in 2024 (FAOSTAT, fresh-leaf basis), most of it consumed at home as green teabasis Green tea is steamed or pan-fired soon after plucking to stop oxidation, keeping a fresh, grassy taste. It is the everyday tea of China and Japan and has a health image in export markets. FAOSTAT 2024 Black and oolong tea
Herbal infusions
Coffee
Orthodox and speciality teas (Darjeeling, Assam orthodox, Ceylon, oolong, white)n/a Assam and other orthodox producers get a production subsidy of Rs 15/kg from 2026-27 (raised from Rs 10/kg); Darjeeling output was about 5.3 million kg in 2025basis Whole-leaf orthodox tea gives more complex flavours and sells at higher prices to Iran, Iraq, Russia, Europe and Japan. Sri Lanka built its export trade on orthodox Ceylon tea; Darjeeling has a geographical indication. ITA, Tea India 2026; ETV Bharat, 5 February 2026 CTC tea
Other speciality beverages
Export tea from Kenya, Sri Lanka and Indian/a India exported a record 285.5 million kg worth Rs 8,659 crore in 2025; China, Kenya and Sri Lanka each had about 19-20% of world export value in 2024basis Kenya and Sri Lanka export most of what they grow, while China and India drink most of theirs. Import demand is spread across Pakistan, the US, the UK, Gulf states, Egypt and Morocco. ITA, Tea India 2026; UN Comtrade 2024 Domestic production in importing countries (Turkey, Iran)
Instant tea, ready-to-drink tea and extractsn/a n/a basis Bottled iced tea and instant powders use lower-grade leaf or extracts, and tea extracts (catechins, theaflavins) go into food, drinks and cosmetics. Growth is strongest in China, Japan and the US. Qualitative Soft drinks
Coffee drinks
Shares by tea type are not published in the sources used. Note the units: FAOSTAT reports fresh tea leaf (32.7 Mt in 2024), while trade and Tea Board figures are made tea; fresh leaf is roughly four to five times the weight of made tea (India: 6.16 Mt of leaf in 2024 against 1.40 Mt of made tea in 2025, indicative ratio).

From field to user

  1. Bushes and plucking Camellia sinensis bushes are kept at waist height and plucked every week or two for decades. India had 613 thousand ha in 2024 (FAOSTAT).
  2. Green leaf to the factory Leaf must reach a factory within hours. In India, small growers supplied 790.5 of 1,395.5 million kg (56.6%) of 2025 output, selling leaf to bought-leaf factories (Tea Board).
  3. Manufacture Withering, then CTC cutting or orthodox rolling, oxidation and drying for black tea; steaming or pan-firing for green tea.
  4. Grading and auction Made tea is graded by leaf size and sold through brokers at auctions in Kolkata, Guwahati, Siliguri, Coonoor, Kochi, Mombasa and Colombo, or privately.
  5. Blending and packing Packers such as Tata Consumer and Hindustan Unilever blend teas from many gardens to keep a consistent taste.
  6. Export India exported 285.5 million kg in 2025, with UAE, Iraq, Iran and China growing (ITA).
  7. End users Households, tea stalls and cafes, ready-to-drink makers.

Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25

Tea, avg 3 auctions (World Bank monthly) 2.85 $/kg Month 2026-09 1 week no daily price 6 months +5.9% World production 32.7 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer China 49.68% of world

Three things to know

  • China grew almost half the world's tea leaves in 2024 (49.7%), giving tea production an HHI of 2,953.
  • Kenya's share of world tea exports tripled to 9% in the 20 years to 1985, while Sri Lanka's fell from a third to a fifth.
  • Tea's ten-year World Bank price range, $2.13 to $3.37/kg, is far narrower than Arabica coffee's $2.66 to $9.05/kg.

Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days

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