Tea consumption has come a long way since its origin in China with about three billion cups served each day around the world, a top official here has said.
"Globally it is a prosperous time for the tea industry, it is estimated that over 3 billion cups of tea are served each day around the world," said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) during his keynote address at the 5th Global Dubai Tea Forum 2014.
"Last year we doubled the volume of tea handled through the DMCC Tea Centre and the total volume of tea flowing through Dubai increased by 29 per cent to 129,000 tonnes," he said.
As many as 300 delegates from over 30 tea producing and consuming countries attended the event.
Four countries produce approximately 70 per cent of the world's tea, China 1.64 billion tonnes (35 per cent), India 980,000 tonnes (20 per cent), Kenya 380,000 tonnes (8 per cent) and Sri Lanka 340,000 tonnes (7 per cent).
"The tea industry has a great opportunity to connect with Generation Y to secure its position as the most popular drink in the world after water. However, if they don't come to us, we must go to them, in their space, whether it's Facebook or the local shopping mall," Founder of Brash Brands, John Brash said.
Kenya heads the list of top tea exports with 396,000 tonnes annually, followed by Sri Lanka, China and India and Russia with 182,000 tonnes is the leading tea importer followed by the UK and the USA, according to a DMCC statement.
The UAE is the largest re-exporter of tea globally with over 60 per cent of the world's market share, it said.
