Vietnam's export turnover of tea up 13 pct in first half

• Source: Xinhua
• [20:54 July 23 2009]
• Comments

Vietnam's export turnover of tea in the first six months this year went up 13 percent year-on-year to about 50 million US dollars, according to the information center of Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade on Thursday.

The increase was due to rising export prices of Vietnam's tea in the international markets. Export price of Vietnam's tea in this period went up by 3.2 percent on average compared with that of the same period last year, said the center.

The Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development forecast that the country could export 117,000 tons of tea in 2009, earning 167 million US dollars, up 13.6 percent in value against the previous year.

To achieve the goal, the ministry asked local tea producers and exporters to find new partners like Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, apart from traditional ones.

Moreover, the country's tea sector should inject more investment into application of advanced technology to ensure higher quality products with diversified production lines, said the ministry.

Vietnam's tea ranks 5th in the world market in terms of output and export turnover. The country's tea has entered in more than 110 countries and regions with major markets like Russia, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, said the center.

Tea cultivation area in Vietnam is now about 131,500 hectares with the average productivity of 6.5 tons of fresh tea bud a hectare, said the center.