Searches rise for all the tea in China

South China Morning Post
By Bien Perez

8 October 2009

They may have once tipped chests of the stuff into Boston Harbour but Americans are now furiously searching for all the tea in China.

In a rebuff to the national drink of coffee, buyers in the United States have increased their online searches for Chinese tea to meet growing demand for the beverage, according to new data from Alibaba.com.

The Hangzhou-based firm, which operates the world's leading business-to-business e-commerce service with more than 42 million users, said that trend was gleaned from the inquiries recorded by more than 1,200 mainland tea suppliers on its international online marketplace.

Despite the global spread of coffee-house chains in recent years, tea products are apparently more sought after than coffee products for bulk purchase on Alibaba.

A company spokesman said: "China is the largest supplier of tea products to the US, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all tea-related inquiries on Alibaba.com."

Since April last year, tea searches by US buyers were 21 per cent higher on average than coffee-related searches, according to Alibaba.

"The US was above the global average, with 15 per cent more tea searches than coffee searches over the past two years," the spokesman said. "The country is seeing a surge in the number of tea drinkers, as average Americans are becoming more aware of the health benefits of tea over coffee."

The most sought-after mainland products are the so-called health teas, including herbal tea, green tea, slimming tea and organic tea. This category accounted for 13 per cent of all tea searches on Alibaba, the spokesman said.

"Our turnover of tea products has been increasing at an average annual rate of 70 per cent," said James Ho, a vice-president at Alibaba member Suizhou Suifeng Tea in Hubei. "Green tea and slimming tea are our best-selling products, with demand for organic tea growing steadily."

Established in 1978, Suizhou Suifeng is a veteran producer of various types of tea which generates about 90 per cent of its export sales to the US and Europe.

According to Alibaba, tea prices depend mostly on the origin, type and processing method used on the tea leaves. Prices of common tea bags can range from two US cents to more than 50 US cents per bag.

Despite lingering issues about the quality of tea production, the mainland also supplies fancy types of tea that could cost more than US$500 per pack.

Puer tea, which is produced in Yunnan, has long been prized for its medicinal qualities. In 2007, a Shenzhen businessman paid 400,000 yuan (HK$454,120) for a 499-gram pack of the tea.

China, which exports tea to more than 120 countries and has 80 million people working in its tea industry, last year exported 297,000 tonnes of the product, valued at US$682 million.

Huo Jianguo, the chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, has forecast the country's tea exports this year to grow modestly.