(Food-Beverage-News.Com, November 12, 2012 ) ACT, Australia -- According to reports by The Ministry of Foreign Trade to mark the International Coffee and Tea Festival, which is scheduled to begin in Dubai on Tuesday, The UAE has emerged as a global hub in the tea re-export market.
The study shows the UAE has become the world’s foremost re-exporter of tea over the past five years, with a 60% share of the market. That is a share that was valued at nearly $48 million just a year ago.
The study also showed that the UAE is among the world’s top five tea importers. They were in second place from 2007 to 2011 as well, with the exception of 2009 when the UAE ranked just behind the UK in third place.
The study points out that UAE tea imports have risen nearly 50% during the same period. Starting from $324 million in 2007, it went to $485 million in 2011. Moreover, the country’s share of total global tea imports has grown from 8.3% in 2007 to 9.4% last year.
Making up nearly 20% of its tea imports from 2010 to 2011, Sri Lanka was noted as the UAE’s biggest supplier of tea. Sri Lanka was followed by India, who had an 8% share during the same years. The combined share of both countries declined in favor of other countries from 30% in 2010 down to almost 26% last year.
Revealing that the UAE’s tea exports were around $5.7 million last year, up by 68% from 2010. The study showed that re-exports of the commodity decreased by 14% during the same time frame, which negatively affected the total number of exports with a 10% decline.
Almost 85% of all UAE re-exports were to two main localities. Eighty-one percent went to Iran, while 4% went to Oman in 2011, as the UAE demanded the exploration of new markets in order to maintain its high standing in the tea trade industry.
The study also showed that the global tea imports were $5.704 billion last year, a 37% increase from 2010. Russia was the biggest importer of tea during 2007 to 2011, importing $625 million of tea last year, an increase of 11% from 2010.
Coming in second place during the same period with the exception of 2009 when it came in third place after the UK the UAE has been right there all along.
Global tea exports in 2011 were around $6.349 billion, an increase of 3% from 2010, but registered a 5% decrease in quantity.
Sri Lanka was the world’s foremost tea exporter from 2007 up until last year, holding a 22% share of the commodity’s global exports. Kenya was next with an 18% share.
Together, the world’s five biggest tea exporters hold a 70% share of the world’s tea export market. This number reflects a vulnerability as global supplies could be harshly affected in the event of droughts or another production affecting catastrophe.
Global tea re-exports were $99 million in 2011, representing a 12% decrease from 2010. A 15% decline in quantity was recorded in the same time frame.
This showed that global re-exports of coffee were worth $349 million last year, with the USA holding the biggest share in this market at $238 million, while the UAE came in fifth place with $6.2 million in coffee re-exports. The UAE growth rate was at 32% from 2010 to last year.
The study also showed that tea, in raw form, requires storage time and packaging services. This creates a role for other countries as value adding intermediaries between production and consumption centres.
Through the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre (DMCC), the UAE gives global tea producers and importers all different sorts of tea trade. That enables facilitations, including a large tea storage facility equipped with the ways to mix and package the product, and is home to numerous company offices.
The facility contains other divisions like the “tasting unit”, which categorizes tea arriving at the UAE from 35 different countries around Africa and Asia. The center is one of the world’s most important tea re-export locations as it stores the tea shipments of multiple world countries.
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