# Tea: Stocks

Why tea stocks fade rather than build up

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

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

#### Recycling

No recycling applies, and no official stocks data are published. Made tea keeps for months but loses quality, so stocks are working inventories with packers and auction warehouses. India has no public stockholding for tea; the Tea Board manages supply mainly through the auction system and quality rules, and ITA points to a global surplus of about 418 million kg (October 2025 AGM).

Made tea keeps for months, but it loses quality with age, so inventories are working stocks held by packers, brokers and warehouses near auction centres. With no futures market, there are no exchange stocks to watch and no standard stocks-to-use figure. Supply adjusts mainly through plucking intensity and weather, not through stockpiles. The bushes are a long-lived standing asset, so tea behaves more like a tree crop than an annual one.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/tea/index.md)
- [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)
- [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)