Dubai Commodities Centre bourse plans tea mart

The Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre (DMCC) is planning to create the Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), a new international centre to facilitate the regional trade of tea.

Announcing the initiative, DMCC's executive director, commodities, David Rutledge said, "The Middle East and adjacent regions account for approximately 25 per cent of the global tea imports and Dubai is already an important regional centre for tea value adding and transshipment."

A number of the regional tea markets will become more open to free participation in international trade in the future, he added. There was an opportunity for Dubai to substantially strengthen its role as a focal point for this trade.

"DTTC has been conceived as a vehicle to facilitate this process," he said.

Welcoming the announcement, Tea Board of India chairman N K Das said, "The Indian tea industry has for some time been actively considering ways of enhancing its access to the growing Middle East market, and have been particularly interested in the role that Dubai may play. We look forward to working with the DTTC to maximise potential for the Indian tea industry."

DTTC will facilitate international tea producers and merchants to hold stocks of tea that will be readily available to meet the immediate requirements of importers in the west Asian region.

By making a variety of tea from multiple origins available, DTTC aims to offer convenience to tea purchasers, along with promoting the interests of exporters.

The new centre has received support from tea industry participants in India, Sri Lanka and East Africa. Potential DTTC members will include tea producers, exporters, regional importers and international merchants.

Initially DTTC will be located at an existing warehouse facility within the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), with plans to move to a purpose-built facility in the free zone within the first two years of operation.

In 2003, Dubai imported 74 million kilograms of tea, while a further 71 million kilograms was transshipped through the Jebel Ali Port.

DMCC expects the Dubai Tea Trade Centre to commence operations in mid-2004, with an aim to capture some of the current season's marketing activity.