GLOBAL MARKET REPORT
Tea prices and sustainability
SUSTAINABLE COMMODITIES
MARKETPLACE SERIES
Steany Bermúdez, Vivek Voora, Cristina Larrea, and Erika Luna
January 2024
Market Overview
Global tea production
continues to grow, though
the gap in demand
narrowed as the COVID-19
pandemic fuelled
consumption.
After water, tea is the most consumed
beverage in the world (Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations [FAO], 2022b). Drinking tea
is a daily ritual for half of the world’s
population. From its origins in China,
tea has spread across trade routes over
centuries, becoming a key global cash crop
and providing livelihoods for millions of
smallholder farmers (FAO, 2022a). Tea is
a stimulant that also provides many health
benefits (Storozhuk, 2022) and is cultivated
in more than 60 countries, primarily in Asia,
Africa, South America, and parts of Eastern
Europe. China produces 47% of the world’s
tea, followed by India, Kenya, and Sri
Lanka (FAO, 2022a).
All tea varieties come from the Camelia
sinensis plant, which produces five dierent
types of tea—black, green, white, oolong,
and dark teas—depending on the degree
of oxidation. Traditional cultivation and
harvesting are labour intensive, and if tea
shoots are not plucked at the right moment,
they lose quality and value (FAO, 2021a).
Harvested green tea shoots are processed
by withering, rolling, or cutting-tearing-
curling (CTC), oxidizing, and drying
before being sorted into dierent grades.
The tea is then packed and sent to auction
houses for sale or sold directly to buyers
on private contracts. Tea is classified by
type and by process (orthodox/rolled tea
and CTC tea). Origin and terroir play a
key part in identity and quality, and teas
are also named by provenance (e.g., Assam,
Ceylon, Darjeeling, East of Rift Kenya,
Java, etc.) (Dufrêne, 2020). A number of
tea cultivation areas in China, Korea, and
Japan are protected as FAO-designated
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage
Systems (FAO, 2022a).
Global tea production has surpassed
USD 17 billion annually, with tea trade
valued at USD 9.5 billion, representing a
significant source of export earnings for
low-income and emerging economies (FAO,
2022a). Research estimates that global tea
production will grow at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from 2021
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LIVELIHOODS
Nine million out of the 13 million people
employed in the global tea sector are
smallholder farmers in developing countries;
they produce 60% of the world’s tea in 2022.
to 2026 (Caro, 2020; Mordor Intelligence,
2023b) to meet demand, as consumption
has risen by 2.5% per capita over the past
decade, primarily in East Asia, Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean, and the Near
East, osetting declining consumption
in Europe, the United States, Canada,
and the Russian Federation (Caro, 2020;
FAO, 2022a). The COVID-19 pandemic
increased global demand, as tea is viewed
as a beverage with immune system-boosting
benefits (Fortune Business Insights, 2022).
Demand is projected to remain robust due
to rising incomes in developing countries
and market diversification into organic and
specialty teas, thereby contributing to rural
incomes and food security in tea-producing
countries (FAO, 2022a). However,
production of plain-quality tea is growing
at a higher rate than its demand, with a
surplus of product and subsequent low
prices for bulk commodity tea. Specialty
tea production provides higher returns to
farmers; volumes produced outside China
and Japan remain small but are increasing
as farmers elsewhere become aware of
this opportunity.
The FAO estimates that 9 million of the 13
million people employed in the global tea
sector are smallholder farmers in developing
countries who produced 60% of the world’s
tea in 2022 (Bolton, 2022). Smallholders
produce 80% of tea grown in China and
Vietnam, and more than 50% of that grown
in India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Sri Lanka—
and the proportion of smallholder-grown
tea is rising globally (Bolton, 2022). Some
80 million Chinese citizens are employed
in the tea sector, including 15 million
smallholders (Ethical Tea Partnership,
2019). India’s tea sector provides livelihoods
for 1.2 million smallholders, of whom up
to 50% are women (Caro, 2020; Nagaraj,
2020). The Kenyan tea sector represents
26% of the country’s annual export
earnings and provides direct and indirect
employment for 2 million people, including
650,000 smallholders (Kenya Presidency
News, 2022). Sri Lankan tea accounts for
12% of annual export earnings and employs
450,000 smallholders (Madsen, 2021).
While traditional manual tea harvesting
remains the norm in many tea-growing
countries, mechanization threatens
employment, as it can reduce production
costs by about 40% (FAO, 2022a). For
example, thousands of tea pickers recently
lost their jobs to tea-harvesting machines in
Kenya’s Rift Valley tea belt (Wanjala, 2021).
According to the FAO, tea production grew
from around 4.3 million tonnes (Mt) in
2008 to 6.3 Mt in 2020 from cultivating 5
million hectares (FAO, 2022a; FAOSTAT,
2021). Tea production has remained
more or less steady over the last decade:
its CAGR of 3.32% from 2008 to 2020
dropped slightly to 2.31% from 2014 to
2020. A large portion of tea produced is
exported, providing an important source
of foreign exchange revenue for exporting
countries (Foreign Agricultural Service,
2021). Since 2016, Kenya, China, and India
have consistently been the largest producing
countries and exporters, exporting
approximately 557 Mt, 369 Mt, and 282 Mt,
respectively, in 2021, while the European
Union, the United States, and Japan have
consistently been the biggest importers,
importing around 225 Mt, 115 Mt, and 108
Mt in 2021, respectively (United Nations,
2022). Over the past two decades, global
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
tea supply has been slightly higher than
demand. Nevertheless, demand started to
catch up with supply, as it received a major
boost due to its health benefits during the
COVID-19 pandemic while production
was hampered (FAO, 2022a). Maintaining
the balance between supply and demand
is key to the sustainability of the industry
and to the safeguarding of pricing and
farmers’ incomes.
The pandemic aected the tea sector in
unprecedented and significant ways. Low-
income developing countries that were
reliant on the tea sector for employment
and export revenue were dramatically
impacted by fertilizer shortages and
increased prices, worker availability,
shipping bottlenecks, and higher production
costs (FAO, 2022b; Harris, 2020). The
pandemic aected Kenya, the world’s
largest tea exporter, by disrupting labour
availability and transportation, as well
as by increasing fertilizer prices by 70%
between 2021 and 2022, resulting in a
commensurate drop in crop production
(Fraats & Huijssoon, n.d.; Husain, 2022).
India, the world’s second-largest tea
producer, shut down many tea-processing
and transportation facilities for several
weeks in 2020, leading to up to a 20% drop
in exports (Harris, 2020).
The pandemic exposed vulnerabilities
within labour-intensive global agricultural
supply chains, particularly in low-income
countries. For example, Sri Lankan tea
declined considerably in 2020 due to
restrictions on the movement of workers,
transport disruptions, and fertilizer
Global tea production from 2008 to 2021
Figure 1. Tea that complies with voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) reached
24.8% of total production in 2019 but dropped slightly to 24% in 2021
Sources: Eckstein et al., 2021; FAO, 2022a; FAOSTAT, 2021; Kemper et al., 2023; Meier et al., 2021;
Voora et al., 2019.
Note: VSS-compliant production volumes refer to tea produced in compliance with one or more VSSs.
Conventional production volumes do not comply with any existing VSSs. Production volumes that are
defined as potentially VSS compliant cannot be definitively listed in either category with the data
currently available.
VSS compliant
Potentially
VSS compliant
Conventional
20202016 20182014201220102008
0
1
2
7
3
4
5
6
Mt
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unavailability (Schmidhuber et al., 2020).
The pandemic accelerated the shift in tea
harvesting toward mechanization—labour
costs for hand plucking soared, pushing
producers to mechanize their operations or
face bankruptcy. Around 70% of global tea
bushes are now harvested by machines or
via some form of mechanical aid (i.e., hand
shears or a sickle), up from 5% in 1980
(Melican, 2021).
On the other hand, the pandemic created
a peak in tea consumption, as the
beverage was positioned as an aordable,
accessible wellness product with many
health benefits. Global demand for tea
expanded, particularly driven by in-home
consumption—even in the European
market, where the trend had been
declining (Caro, 2020). Consumption
of bubble tea and herbal teas became
popular among young people during the
pandemic (Fortune Business Insights,
2023). Further harnessing and expanding
this growth will play a major part in the
sector’s development.
Climate change continues
to threaten the viability of
the tea sector.
The tea sector faces the formidable
challenge of producing an aordable, high-
quality, and more sustainable product in
a highly competitive market and under
increasingly harsh and unpredictable
weather conditions. Changing climate
patterns are interfering with all phases of
tea cultivation, such as plucking, pruning,
and applying chemical inputs (Baruah &
Handique, 2021; Goswami, 2021). Tea
is grown in diverse agroecological areas
around the world that are vulnerable to
climate change. Optimal tea-growing areas
are expected to shrink. For example, yields
are projected to decrease by 5% in China,
14% in Sri Lanka, and 25% in Kenya
by 2050 (Ethical Tea Partnership, 2021;
Jayasinghe & Kumar, 2020; Kramer & Ware,
2021). Erratic rainfall and droughts have
reduced yields, impacting the timing and
number of harvested “flushes” per growing
season (Ethical Tea Partnership, 2021;
Subedi, 2020). For example, Kenyan tea
smallholders have faced successive waves
of drought and frost, which has lowered
productivity (Elbehri et al., 2015; Kotikot
et al., 2020; Muoki et al., 2020; World
Bank Group, 2022).
Climate change is increasing the incidence
of fungal pathogens and diseases,
necessitating the increased use of fungicides
and microbial biocontrol agents (Ahmed
et al., 2014; Pandey et al., 2021). For
example, the rising incidence of leaf curl
and black tip pests in Nepal combined
with severe rains and labour shortages due
to the COVID-19 pandemic lowered tea
quality and slashed yields by 30% to 40%
in 2020 compared to 2019 (Subedi, 2020).
The pandemic also accelerated the need for
climate adaptation, raising concerns about
the long-term viability of the tea sector
(Elbehri et al., 2015).
Eorts are underway to improve the climate
resilience of the tea sector, focusing on
developing drought- and pest-resistant tea
varieties, adapting to erratic precipitation,
implementing more diverse production
operations, and meeting demand for
sustainably sourced products (Baruah &
Handique, 2021; Deka & Goswami, 2022;
FAO, 2022a). Scientists around the world
are developing climate-resilient tea strains.
In Sri Lanka, nuclear techniques are being
used to enhance yields by increasing genetic
diversity (Madsen, 2021). Tea is highly
vulnerable to changes in precipitation.
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
This is why adaptation measures include
maintaining soil moisture via aorestation,
biodiversity conservation, and mulching
(Baruah & Handique, 2021). In Assam,
India, rainwater harvesting, sustainable
irrigation, and mulching have become
common (Goswami, 2021; Nowogrodzki,
2019). Faced with Typhoon Amplan in 2018
and flooding from the strongest monsoon
season in a decade, Assamese tea growers
have adapted by constructing anti-erosion
riverbanks (Goswami, 2021).
Tea can be grown in agroforestry systems,
where it is planted with trees and shrubs to
provide shade, soil moisture, and fertility
while also protecting the soil from frost
and erosion (Nowogrodzki, 2019). Chinese
tea producers have introduced nitrogen-
fixing plants in plantations to increase
soil fertility and tea quality (Huang et al.,
2022). Indian, Kenyan, Sri Lankan, and
Tanzanian tea producers are intercropping
tea with pepper, coee, cloves, fruit trees,
and pulses to reduce climate change risks,
improve soil fertility, and boost income
(Baruah & Handique, 2021; Fuerer et al.,
2021; Rwigema, 2021; Sewwandi, 2019).
Indian tea estates often intercrop tea with
horticulture, floriculture, and medicinal
plants. Oil palms introduced in Assam
and West Bengali tea estates in India
have great climate-resilience potential
while diversifying income for farmers
(Roozen, 2022).
The tea sector has the potential to
mitigate climate change in several ways,
including by switching to renewable
energy sources, intercropping, restoring
forests, and enhancing fertilizer use. Tea
factories consume energy for processing
tea primarily in the drying stage of
processing. This energy requirement has
led to the deforestation of areas within
and surrounding tea plantations, as most
factories use firewood. Consequently,
switching tea-processing facilities to more
ecient and renewable energy systems is an
important opportunity to lower greenhouse
gas emissions. China’s tea industry has
the potential to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 58% by switching from
coal to biomass in tea factories (Liang et
al., 2021). Deforestation to give way to
tea cultivation and provide energy in tea-
processing facilities needs to be reversed.
Restoring forests on tea plantations oers
the possibility of mitigating climate change
via carbon sequestration while improving
resilience to climate change by providing
shade and soil moisture retention. The tea
sector must lower its carbon footprint if it is
to remain viable over the long term (Ethical
Tea Partnership, 2021).
Producing VSS-compliant
tea can help build resilience.
Eorts to move the tea sector toward
sustainability and resilience in facing
challenges such as climate change are
ongoing. The implementation of VSSs,
which started in tea 30 years ago, is one
of these eorts. VSSs operating in the
tea sector—such as Rainforest Alliance,
Organic, and Fairtrade—support practices
that can help build climate resilience on tea
plantations. These practices include water
reuse, recycling, and harvesting, which
can help the plants cope with periods of
drought, maintain soil fertility to improve
yields and quality, and promote the use
of renewable energy sources (Voora et
al., 2022). Implementing VSSs allows
farmers to dierentiate themselves from
conventional tea in the marketplace and
potentially capture market demand. The
FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea
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(2022) notes the trend of growing demand
in more mature markets for sustainably
sourced products. In exchange for adopting
more sustainable farming practices, farmers
can label their products as VSS compliant
or produced in accordance with a VSS.
According to our analysis in 2019, more
than 1 million farmers produced between
1.67 Mt and 2.06 Mt of VSS-compliant
tea with a farm gate value exceeding USD
155 million, an increase of 0.3 Mt over the
previous year (FAO, 2022a; FAOSTAT,
2021; Meier, et al., 2021). The most
prominent VSSs in the tea sector, ordered
by 2019 production volumes, include
Rainforest Alliance (1.33 Mt), Organic
(0.41 Mt), Fairtrade (0.18 Mt), and UTZ
(0.14 Mt)
1
(Meier et al., 2021). Growing
at a CAGR of 29% to 31% between 2008
1
As of January 2020, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ
have merged into a single organization and standard.
and 2019, VSS-compliant tea represented
25% to 31% of total global production in
2019. Despite this impressive growth, there
are signs that the supply of VSS-compliant
tea may be slowing as its CAGR dropped to
between 12% and 13% from 2014 to 2019
(Meier et al., 2021). Almost all the loss in
VSS-compliant production is attributed to a
drop in Fairtrade tea, which declined from
0.25 Mt in 2016 to 0.183 Mt in 2019. The
estimated production of VSS-compliant tea
decreased across all the schemes in 2021 to
a total of 1.56 Mt to 1.9 Mt, representing
24% to 30% of total tea production that
year (FAO, 2022a; Kemper et al., 2023).
Another major challenge tea producers
face is the large amount of VSS-compliant
tea sold as conventional. For example,
Fairtrade-certified smallholder tea producer
organizations sold only 7% of their
production on Fairtrade terms in 2020
(O’Brien, 2022). Tea farmers who cannot
sell their product as VSS compliant may
not receive premiums and struggle to pay
certification costs (O’Brien, 2022). This
can be very problematic, as some farmers
need to comply with more than one scheme
to meet buyers’ demand, thus increasing
their certification costs, which they do not
recover if their produce is not sold as VSS
compliant. Falling incomes and the higher
production costs experienced in 2020 due
to the pandemic-triggered supply chain
disruptions have led to greater rates of
poverty among smallholder tea farmers and
limited investment in more sustainable and
resilient production systems (IDH, n.d).
Our analysis finds that among tea-producing
countries, China, India, Argentina, Turkiye,
and Sri Lanka oer VSSs the greatest
potential to expand based on the size of
How much tea is
compliant with a VSS?
Figure 2. VSS-compliant tea production
volumes in 2019 and in 2021 (in tonnes)
Source: Kemper et al., 2023; Meier et al., 2021.
Rainforest Alliance
2019: 1,329,320
2021: 1,299,273
Organic
2019: 406,706
2021: 367,891
Fairtrade International
2019: 183,630
2021: 180,575
UTZ
2019: 142,271
2021: 94,199
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
their conventional tea production. Among
the least developed tea-producing countries,
Mozambique, Ethiopia, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mali, and
Haiti oer VSSs the greatest opportunities
for enabling sustainable development via
the adoption of more sustainable tea-
farming practices based on their share of
global tea production, the limited presence
of VSSs, and their Human Development
Index (FAOSTAT, 2021; Meier et al., 2021).
To make the most of this potential, tea
producers will need help from supporting
actors to transition to VSS-compliant
practices, such as extension services, better
market relations, and greater demand for
more sustainable tea—in particular, in
leading importing and consuming countries,
such as Pakistan or China, to ensure the
business case of VSS-compliant production
that benefits farmers (Elder et al., 2021).
As importantly, VSS-compliant tea farming
can also influence yields. According to our
analysis, VSS-compliant tea yields were
higher in 12 and lower in 19 tea-producing
countries in 2019 (FAOSTAT, 2021; Meier
et al., 2021). VSS-compliant yields tended
to be higher in the larger tea-producing
countries, such as China, Kenya, Indonesia,
Vietnam, and Japan. India and Turkiye are
exceptions, as VSS-compliant tea yields
were lower than conventional tea yields
in these major tea producers in 2019.
Nevertheless, yield also depends on the kind
of tea planted.
Demand for VSS-compliant
tea climbed after the
pandemic, including in
producing countries.
Despite initial lockdowns, which slowed
distribution, marketing, and logistics,
demand for tea rose during the COVID-19
pandemic (FAO, 2022a, 2022b). The
industry adjusted and returned to a stable
state in 2021 (Storozhuk, 2022). As
lockdowns and other restrictions were
progressively lifted, demand for VSS-
compliant tea increased, driven primarily
by Europe (FAO, 2022a), where demand
for organic tea grew significantly in 2020
and 2021, followed by the United States
and Canada (Nakatsugawa, 2023). As an
illustrative example, the Organic-certified
tea market grew in Europe at a CAGR of
10.9% between 2016 and 2021, reaching
a retail market value of USD 837.5
million in 2021 (Agriculture and Agri-
Food Canada, 2022a). Going forward, the
Organic tea market is expected to grow
at a CAGR of 8.4% between 2021 and
2026 to reach almost 10% of the European
market. Increased consumer preferences
MARKET VALUE
More than 1 million farmers produced between
1.67 Mt and 2.06 Mt of VSS-compliant tea with a
market value of USD 155 million in 2019.
CAGR
Conventional production grew at a CAGR of
1.13% from 2008 to 2019 and 1.77% between
2014 and 2019. VSS-compliant production grew
at a CAGR of 29% to 31% between 2008 and
2019 but dropped to 12% to 13% from 2014 to
2019.
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Global Market Report
Tea-growing regions of the world
Figure 3. Distribution of tea production in the top 10 producing countries in 2019
Sources: FAO, 2022 ; Meier et al., 2021.
VSS compliant
Potentially
VSS compliant
Conventional
Mt
Kenya
Argentina
Sri Lanka
India
China
Myanmar
Thailand
Indonesia
Vietnam
Turkey
0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
1–10 11–20 21–50 51–100 >100 Harvest area
Prevalent VSS-compliant area
Climate Risk Index score for 2000–2019
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
for healthier beverages and their greater
awareness of social and environmental
issues have driven this push. In the United
States, about 13% of retail tea sales were
certified Organic in 2021, growing at a
CAGR of 5.8% from 2016 to 2021 and
projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% from
2021 to 2026 (Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, 2022b).
The challenges of pricing VSS-compliant tea
products and their availability at dierent
points of sale must be overcome to boost
global demand for VSS-compliant tea—
especially in producing countries, some of
which tend to be the largest consumers of
tea (e.g., China and India). Price premiums
continue to be a barrier to growing the
consumer base in price-sensitive markets.
For instance, conventional teas are
sometimes as much as 625% cheaper than
more sustainable alternatives in Turkiye
(Dufrêne, 2020). Furthermore, VSS-
compliant tea is handled as a luxury good,
which increases its price. Equally important
is educating and raising awareness in
local consumers about sustainability,
the benefits to people and the planet of
consuming VSS-compliant teas, and the
various impacts consumers can have by
choosing these options.
The availability of VSS-compliant tea
to consumers is also an issue in some
emerging economies. For instance,
although almost 80% of Brazilians want
more sustainable lifestyles and access to
sustainably grown products, such as tea,
only 13% of hot beverages, including ready-
to-drink tea, are labelled as sustainable in
Brazil, making it dicult for consumers
to identify more sustainable options at the
point of sale (Dufrêne, 2020).
Strategies to expand VSS-compliant tea
consumption will need to be tailored to
the context. India is one of the largest tea-
producing countries in the world, and 80%
of production is consumed domestically
(Caro, 2020; Dufrêne, 2020). Much of this
complies with Trustea, a domestic VSS
launched in 2013 that certified 791,000
tonnes or 57% of total tea production
in 2021 (Mordor Intelligence, 2023b).
At the same time, public awareness of
sustainability issues in the Indian tea
sector has risen, with increased preferences
toward purchasing sustainable options
(Bhattacharyya et al., 2023). These
developments have underpinned Indian
consumption of more sustainable tea. As
an example, 60% of the tea sourced by
the local company Tata in 2019/2020
complied with the Trustea standard.
Trustea-compliant tea is largely consumed
locally (Tata Consumer Products, 2020a).
Furthermore, according to Euromonitor,
consumption of organic tea at retail also
grew in India at a CAGR of 17.3% from
2016 to 2021 and is expected to continue
growing at a similar rate over the next
five years (Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, 2022b).
China has the largest tea sector in the
world, with a market valued at USD 10
billion (Bolton, 2022). Increasing VSS-
compliant tea consumption in the country
oers great potential as Chinese people
consume 80% of the country’s production,
and 70% of consumers have expressed
interest in buying more sustainable
products (Ethical Tea Partnership, 2019;
Nagaraj, 2020). Euromonitor reports that
consumption of organic tea at retail in
China grew at a 13% CAGR from 2016 to
2021, though it is expected to grow more
slowly going forward (Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, 2022b). In Kenya, the
largest black tea exporter in the world, 5%
of production is consumed domestically
(Kenya Presidency News, 2022). Kenyan
companies are introducing tea varieties to
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Global Market Report
Progress on sustainable sourcing commitments
Figure 4. Major tea companies, their sustainable sourcing commitments, and
progress in 2020
Sources: Associated British Foods, 2020; Fairtrade Africa, 2020; FAOSTAT, 2023; Finlays, 2020a,
2020b; Mcleod Russel, n.d.; Tata Consumer Products Limited, n.d., 2020a, 2020b; Tetley, n.d.; Twinings,
n.d.; Unilever, n.d.
Notes:
James Finlay: Total consumption was obtained from Finlay’s reported volume of total traded tea. The
share of sustainable consumption accounts only for the amount produced in Kenya with a Fairtrade
certification. Volumes from other certifications were not found. James Finlay committed to “100%
traceable, transparent supply to internationally accepted standards by 2022” (Finlays, 2020a, p.13). Their
sustainability strategy, Sustainable Future 2030, includes “sustainable supply” but does not explicitly
mention sustainable sourcing from a VSS (Finlays, 2020a).
McLeod Russel: Total and sustainable consumption volumes were obtained by adding the reported
volumes of tea at each farm in India, Africa, and Vietnam. No information about sourcing
targets was found.
Tata (formerly known as Tata Global Beverages): Total consumption refers to total volume of tea
sourced. Sustainable consumption volumes were obtained from the reported Trustea-certified tea from
India. However, Tata also reports that 100% of the tea sourced for their Tetley brand is 100% Rainforest
Alliance certified (Tata Consumer Products Limited, 2020a). This was not included in Tata’s sustainable
consumption volume since it is unknown if some of this volume has double certification (Trustea and
Rainforest Alliance).
Twinings: This figure was estimated by multiplying the company’s tea market share (2% of the global
tea market as of 2010) by the global tea production in 2020, as reported by FAOSTAT (2023).
Unilever: This figure was estimated by multiplying the company’s tea market share (12% of the global
tea market as of 2010) by the global tea production in 2020, as reported by FAOSTAT (2023).
Sustainable consumption Conventional consumption
Sustainable sourcing commitment
James Finlay
Unilever
Twinings
McLeod Russel
Tata Consumer Products
Tonnes
0 400,000 800,000 1,200,000
1,083,333
842,885
140,481
60,595
88,400
100% sustainable sourcing by 2020
100% sustainable sourcing by 2023
100% sustainable sourcing by 2020
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
appeal to Kenyan youth (Madsen, 2021),
oering opportunities to boost domestic
VSS-compliant tea consumption, as
almost all the tea produced in the country
complies with a VSS (Meier et al., 2021).
All these developments are promising as
they illustrate how consumption of VSS-
compliant tea is evolving and increasing in
the main producing countries.
Some of the largest tea manufacturers
(Mordor Intelligence, 2023a) bought 2.2
Mt of tea in 2020, up from 1.22 Mt in 2017.
From the total tea purchased in 2020, 1.6
Mt or 71% was sustainably sourced tea,
compliant with a VSS, up from 0.9Mt in
2017 (Voora et al., 2019).
2
As illustrated in
Figure 4, two companies had sustainability
sourcing commitments in place for 2020
and one for 2023. Of these two, only
Twinings met its 100% sustainable sourcing
target. While Tata Consumer Products
(formerly known as Tata Global Beverages)
sourced 100% of its Tetley brand tea from
Rainforest Alliance-certified farms, 60%
of its tea in India was Trustea-certified.
In 2020, 86% of Unilever’s tea was VSS
compliant. It sets its 100% sustainability
sourcing target for 2023. James Finlay has
a commitment to trace its entire tea value
chain by 2020 but does not have an explicit
sustainable sourcing commitment; however,
at least 11% of its sourcing was reported to
be Fairtrade certified that year. While the
volume certified by Rainforest Alliance was
unknown, a recent audit indicated that the
VSS-setting body had decided to suspend
Finlay’s certification after confirming the
presence of multiple non-conformities
to the social and management criteria
of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable
Agriculture Standard (Fiolhais, 2023).
2
In addition to sourcing VSS-compliant tea, some companies may have their own corporate sustainability
initiatives in place. For instance, Twinings’ Sourced with Care initiative aims to improve livelihoods in the
communities from which it sources its tea.
Based on the sourcing commitments of the
largest tea manufacturers examined, and
assessing them against current tea-sourcing
information, an additional 0.18 Mt of
sustainable tea could be sourced by 2023.
For the most part, production of VSS-
compliant tea has increased steadily over
the years. Although current global economic
uncertainties may aect its consumption,
demand should continue to rise. Taking
a more pessimistic outlook weighs the
long-term and slow but steady increase in
VSS-compliant tea production more heavily,
which should result in 2.24 Mt by 2025 due
to a shift toward corporate sustainability
initiatives and a continued inability to sell
VSS-compliant product as such. A more
optimistic outlook weighs the more rapidly
increasing short-term VSS-compliant
production trend more heavily and projects
a steady increase to 2.43 Mt by 2025.
A number of potential futures exist between
these outlooks, and although VSS-compliant
production is likely to experience a short-
term contraction, we predict that it will
rebound to almost 2.33 Mt by 2025 as
demand for sustainable tea continues to
grow, motivating sustainable tea-sourcing
commitments, and VSS-compliant tea
farmers enjoy more success selling
their harvest as VSS-compliant product.
Consequently, we expect VSS-compliant
tea production to range from 2.24 Mt to
2.43 Mt by 2025.
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Global Market Report
A Dive Into Tea Prices
3
“Farmer field school is a participatory education approach that brings together a group of small-scale food
producers to solve production problems through sustainable agriculture” (FAO, 2021b). Introduced in Kenya by
the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) Holdings Limited and partners in 2006, the schools have helped
producers increase yields and encouraged farmers to work collectively to source equipment and sell their produce—
all of which can enhance farm profitability (Millet, 2021).
Oversupply, lower demand,
and global supply chain
disruptions have created
price volatility in the tea
market.
Pricing is important, as it can determine if
tea producers stand to gain financially from
complying with a VSS. Eorts to shift the
sector toward sustainability—such as by
abiding with VSSs—are partly driven by a
need to internalize the external, tangible
costs associated with the industry, which
are not factored into the price paid by end
consumers. For example, the external costs
of conventional green leaf tea produced in
Kenya in 2016 were found to be EUR 0.70/
kg over and above the farm gate price of
EUR 0.35/kg of green leaf in the same year
(Bergman et al., 2016). Also, the external
costs of tea produced by farmers attending
farmer field schools
3
versus conventional
farms in Kenya were found to be 29%
lower and, consequently, their tea is 24%
more profitable (generating annual profits
of EUR 1,940/ha versus EUR 1,570/ha) in
2016 (Bergman et al., 2016). Internalizing
the external costs associated with the
production and processing of conventional
tea in the market price would make VSS-
compliant tea more competitive. Therefore,
examining how global tea prices intersect
with the sector’s sustainability is paramount.
As with many other agricultural commodity
markets, the international prices of tea
are largely correlated with shifts in supply
and demand. However, what dierentiates
tea from other commodities is that about
75% of the world’s tea is traded through
public auctions, with the rest sold through
direct contracts (FAO Intergovernmental
Group on Tea, 2018). Trade is concentrated
in three major auctions: Kolkata in India,
Mombasa in Kenya, and Colombo in Sri
Lanka, which act as the dominant points
of reference for pricing and market activity
(Gro Intelligence, 2018). The auctions bring
tea buyers and sellers together to determine
prices through interactive competitive
bidding based on prior assessment of the
grade and quality of the tea (Monroy et
al., 2013). Tea quality is determined by
assessing the leaf for size and neatness, as
well as the cup for taste characteristics.
Dierent markets value dierent quality
aspects; for instance, Pakistan pays more for
neat black leaf and bright, golden teas with
high flavour, while the United Kingdom
pays more for redder teas. Egypt goes for
dust grades and Sudan for bolder leaf types.
This means teas with higher quality and
particular characteristics receive better
prices at auctions from interested buyers.
Tea auction prices in real terms have
been declining for the past four decades
(FAO, 2022), with strong drops in the
last 3 years due to pandemic-related
disruptions to logistics. These disruptions
aected trade, with measures imposed by
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13
Tea Prices and Sustainability
many countries to contain the spread of
COVID-19, which resulted in lower global
demand (FAO, 2022). Auction prices fell
to an all-time low (below USD 2/kg) in
2020 due to a combination of low global
demand and oversupply in the market
because of good weather conditions in East
Africa that yielded more tea than expected
(Gahigi, 2020).
More recently, the unprecedented economic
and agricultural supply chain disruptions
stemming from Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine have aected international tea
prices, as the conflict has cut tea demand
from several countries that used the Black
Sea as their main shipping route (Andae,
2022a). Auction tea prices declined by 11%
between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the
first quarter of 2023 due to lower demand
in key consumer regions in Central Asia
as a result of the war in Ukraine (World
Bank Group, 2023).
The negative impacts of the war on
Ukraine on the global tea market have
been felt by major producing countries
such as Kenya, where tea farmers and
exporters face low prices as well as high
export and shipping costs to Russia, an
important buyer of Kenyan tea (Andae,
2022a). The Russian Federation is also
a major supplier of fertilizers, and the
limited availability and higher prices of
fertilizers, coupled with high inflation
levels, could translate into lower global tea
yields, aect tea quality, and potentially
result in more volatility in the tea market
in the coming years (Acciarino, 2022; FAO,
2022a; FAO et al., 2022; Husain, 2022;
United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development, 2022).
Low international tea
prices and high production
costs threaten tea farmers’
livelihoods.
Most tea is grown in developing countries,
especially in Asia and Africa, where
production is dominated by small-scale
farmers who rely on the crop as a major
source of income and livelihood (FAO,
2021b). Smallholder farmers in countries
that depend on tea exports are particularly
vulnerable to international price shocks and
volatility, as unpredictable tea prices expose
them to financial uncertainty and inhibit
incentives for investments at the farm level
while reducing their incomes and savings
(Aksoy, 2012; FAO, 2011). In addition, the
crop is a main source of export revenues
in most producing countries. Additionally,
unanticipated variations in international
tea prices have important consequences on
local economies and, consequently, on the
well-being of producers, plantation workers,
and their families (FAO, 2021a).
In countries such as Vietnam, for instance,
farmers are unwilling to invest in tea due
to the steady decline in prices in recent
decades. Extreme weather conditions and
the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and
herbicides in the country have resulted in
poor soil health, lower-quality crops, and
smaller yields, undermining Vietnamese
tea’s reputation on international markets
(United Nations Environment Programme
[UNEP], 2018). In India and Sri Lanka,
even when the tea industry brings important
export revenues, tea farmers and pickers are
struggling, as farm gate prices and wages
have fallen while production costs have
risen due to inflation (Preetha, 2023). Sri
Lankan tea farmers are struggling because
of a financial crisis that has resulted in
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Global Market Report
abnormal inflation and exorbitant food
prices, adding to the eects of lower tea
yields and quality due to the government’s
decision in 2021 to ban chemical fertilizers
(Bellalou, 2022; South Asia Alliance for
Poverty Eradication [SAAPE], 2022). Also,
many plantation workers in South Asian
countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and
Bangladesh, have reported mistreatment
and huge wage reductions that have
pushed wages below the legal minimum,
threatening their livelihoods (Ravindran,
2023; SAAPE, 2022).
The eects of international tea market
price variations on farm gate prices vary
by country and region, as tea pricing
at the domestic level can be subject to
regulations, marketing structures, and
other support systems that can influence
what farmers receive for the green leaf
tea they produce. Pricing models that
reflect the cost of production and the final
prices obtained at auctions determine
producer prices in major tea-producing
countries. Farmers can also receive bonuses
based on the performance of their teas at
auctions (FAO, 2015).
In Malawi, for instance, a national pricing
committee made up of processors and
farmers determines green leaf tea producer
prices. Committee members meet regularly
to determine the base and bonus price of
green leaf tea using a pricing formula that
considers the average domestic costs of
production and processing. Farmers also
receive a bonus payment per kg of green tea
leaves based on the formula that determines
the dierence between the average price
obtained at auctions and the cost of
production (Fang et al., 2014).
Tea farmers in Kenya received about 16%
of the final price obtained at the auctions
in 2022, which represented about USD
0.30/kg of green leaf tea delivered (Muiruri,
2023). That same year, the Kenyan
government implemented a minimum price
or reserve price of USD 2.43/kg for teas
sold by the KTDA at the Mombasa auction;
these teas make up more than 66% of the
country’s total production. This minimum
price is meant to provide a cushion for
farmers by ensuring their teas are not sold
below a certain price (Andae, 2022b).
However, the eects of this measure on
improving farmers’ prices remain to be seen,
as the currently over-supplied market has
resulted in significant quantities of unsold
Kenyan tea in the market, meaning that
farmers are not receiving payments for their
tea. This is expected to worsen with the El
Nino-induced heavy rains that are expected
to result in boosting tea supply in 2024
(Ngugi & Kamau, 2023).
In Asian countries, including Sri Lanka
and Vietnam, producers’ prices have been
slightly higher than those received by East
African peers, with an average of USD
0.40/kg and USD 0.70/kg in 2020–2022
(FAOSTAT, 2023). In other countries, such
as India and Nepal, farmers receive as low
as 0.16/kg (Preetha, 2023; SAAPE, 2022).
Small-scale farmers in India recently staged
hunger protests demanding reasonable
prices from the Tea Board India, as USD
0.16/kg is not even enough to cover
production costs. While attempts have been
made to set a minimum price for green
leaves in Nepal, its implementation has
been challenging as buyers are unwilling to
pay that price (Dhar et al., 2022).
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
The type of farmer
organization can influence
farm gate prices.
Most tea-producing countries have
hierarchal structures that include large
plantations or tea estates where employed
tea pluckers harvest tea and are paid by
the kg of green tea leaf delivered. On the
other side are smallholder farmers, who
account for most of the production in
many countries. They are usually part of
the informal tea economy, as many are
own-account workers who work in their
tea gardens without hiring any workforce,
household workers who engage in tea
farming without any remuneration, or
casual labourers who are hired on a
temporary basis for informal remuneration
(SAAPE, 2022). As a result, they are not
included under social security provisions or
guaranteed minimum wages.
Smallholders usually depend on the buyer’s
willingness to pay the minimum prices for
green leaves when such provisions exist. In
Nepal, for instance, smallholder farmers
have historically been oered lower prices
for green tea leaves than tea estates due
to a perception of lower tea quality and a
lack of information on market prices. Also,
tea estates usually have higher yields and
better access to technology and quality
inputs, such as fertilizers (SAAPE, 2022).
In Vietnam, smallholder farmers’ lack
of financial education diminishes their
bargaining power when selling their tea at
the farm gate and even when negotiating
prices when buying inputs such as fertilizers
(Chinh et al., 2021).
Rwanda and Vietnam are among
the countries that have land-sharing
cooperatives, where groups of smallholder
farmers jointly share and manage land and
profits are distributed among members
of the cooperative associations (Foster &
Graham, 2014; Khoi et al., 2015). These
cooperatives coordinate the aggregation,
transport, and payment for green tea
leaves to the farmers, and payments to
smallholders are based on the weight of
green leaf tea produced (Foster & Graham,
2014). Smallholders may produce better-
quality tea than tea estates, as they are
usually more careful during the collection
processes (plucking technique) than
temporary workers in fields. Costs of
production and the high costs of fertilizer,
inputs, and transportation are variables that
can reduce smallholder and cooperative
farmer profits (Foster & Graham, 2014).
The greatest value in the
tea value chain is captured
during the blending and
packaging stage.
Tea has a complex value chain that
involves the participation and interaction
of dierent actors, including tea estates,
smallholder farmers, brokers, bidders,
blenders, wholesalers, and retailers. The
growing, harvesting, processing, and
exporting activities take place in the
producing country. The green tea leaves
produced by smallholder farmers reach
processing factories either directly or
through collector or cooperative groups.
For 1 kg of processed or “made tea,” 4 kg of
green leaves is used (SAAPE, 2022). There
is generally no additional processing after
the transformation from green leaf into
made tea, except for milled teas like matcha,
fermented teas, and smoked teas.
Made tea is dispatched to the auction
centres, where exporters and intermediary
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Global Market Report
companies bid and buy the tea in bulk. Tea
can also be directly delivered to buyers
when it has been negotiated through direct
sales (Fang et al., 2014; Tuyishime et al.,
2020). Tea traders, agents, and brokers
play an important role at this stage, as they
are responsible for tasting, sampling, and
pricing. They also help connect sellers to
international buyers and distribute tea
samples to buyers before the auctions.
Agents and brokers make their profit
from storage fees and charge an operating
commission that is about 1.5% of the final
selling price (1% paid by the producer,
the rest by the buyer) (Fang et al., 2014;
Monroy et al., 2013).
The real value addition in the tea chain
starts at the factory, where processing and
grading are done. Most tea companies in
producing countries sell bulk processed
tea, which is ready for consumption but not
labelled, packed, or branded and receives a
price that is one sixth of its potential value
(Khoi et al., 2015). The second stage of
value addition happens during blending
and packing activities, which are the most
profitable steps in the value chain. These
processes are undertaken in importing
and consuming countries, especially at
the processing plants of multinational
tea companies, mostly located in Europe
and other Western countries (Monroy et
al., 2013). This shows that most of the
money made from tea resides in consuming
countries, while most of the work and
eorts on improving practices and tea
quality take place in producing countries.
According to FAO research (2014) on the
tea industry in China, fresh tea retains
about 20% of its total value added through
the value chain, primary processed tea
retains 5%, and the refining and blending
processes cover about 15%. Wholesalers
and retailers retain about 20% and 40%
of the total value added, respectively. In
countries like Vietnam, farmers contribute
the most to the net value added in the whole
chain, at about 42% (Chinh et al., 2021).
In some tea-producing countries,
smallholders make no profit, as their total
production costs often exceed their earnings
(Khoi et al., 2015). Tea estates can obtain
margins of about 15% of the total retail
price, as they may have greater capacity to
produce and process larger quantities of
tea than smallholder farmers. Wholesalers
and retailers generally achieve the highest
margins in the whole value chain, with
about 45% of the final retail price (Fang et
al., 2014; Khoi et al., 2015). Downstream
actors in the value chain can get higher
profits and margins as they operate in a
wide network and have better access to
market information and marketing channels
(Khoi et al., 2015). In addition, loose tea
is a high-margin product due to the small
quantity of tea needed to brew a cup. The
mark-ups for loose tea at retail can be
substantial compared to tea-bagged teas.
However, it should be noted that adding
activities also means adding costs, and
retailers, wholesalers, and processors incur a
range of costs and make investments related
to labour, technology, marketing facilities,
and rent (Khoi et al., 2015).
Highly vertically integrated multinationals
that own and manage plantations and
factories in many tea-producing countries
manage about 85% of the tea output
consumed worldwide (Monroy, 2013; Voora
et al., 2019). These few companies control
several processes—from the farm input
supply to the tea-bag retail—and strongly
influence the price-setting dynamics
through the value chain (SAAPE, 2022).
They also have considerable power to
influence prices at auctions. With their
buying policies, these companies can
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
influence both price movements and
the demand for certain qualities of tea
(Fairtrade Foundation, 2023). The complex
dynamics of the tea trade and the multiple
channels of distribution make it dicult
to enforce transparency and obtain clear
and comprehensive pricing data from
auctions and buyers.
Due to the structure of the tea market,
participants upstream in the value chain—
that is, plantation workers and smallholder
farmers, who contribute the most to the
production of tea—are the most vulnerable,
as they bear all the risks of extreme weather
changes, must cope with the limited
availability and variable costs of inputs such
as fertilizers, and keep receiving low prices
and wages that represent a minimal share
of the price tea fetches on the international
market (SAAPE, 2022).
Smallholder farmers can be considered
price-takers, as very little tea can be sold
through direct contracts. Farmers also
have very little influence over prices at
tea auctions and cannot easily adjust to
market conditions, as they have a limited
relationship with buyers and are not able
to decide to whom they sell (Monroy et
al., 2013). In many producing countries,
smallholders have limited know-how on the
market and must pay a great deal to brokers
to sell their made tea (SAAPE, 2022).
Even when smallholders find prospective
buyers for their made tea, many encounter
legal and administrative barriers that
prevent them from accessing potential
export markets. As an example, Chinese
legislation prohibits small tea farmers from
directly exporting to consuming countries
such as the United States, and usually,
only large factory operations or registered
brokerage firms have the resources to accept
foreign funds and negotiate with potential
buyers overseas (Verdant Tea, 2015). In
Kenya, the Tea Act of 2020 banned direct
sales of KTDA teas and mandated that
all teas be sold at auction, which has also
compounded problems of oversupply in the
auction (Waitathu, 2020).
What have VSSs done to
pricing in the tea sector?
Some VSSs operating in the tea sector,
seeking to help smallholder farmers
and plantation workers, have developed
programs and mechanisms to address low
farm prices and price volatility. Fairtrade
International and Rainforest Alliance/UTZ
oer price floors, premium models, or
sustainability dierentials, and Fairtrade
International is working toward establishing
living wage benchmarks and dierentials.
Other sustainability standards, such as
Trustea, have no minimum prices or
premiums in place.
Fairtrade minimum prices (FTMPs) for
made tea are origin specific. For instance,
as of 2020, producer organizations in Sri
Lanka receive USD 2.40/kg of conventional
tea and USD 2.60/kg of organic tea,
those in India get about USD 2/kg for
conventional and 2.20/kg of organic tea,
and Kenyan producers receive about USD
1.70 to USD 1.80/kg of conventional and
USD 1.90 to USD 2/kg of organic tea
(Fairtrade International, 2023). In addition,
all producer organizations across producing
countries receive a Fairtrade premium of
USD 0.50/kg for community and economic
investment. In countries where there is
no defined FTMP, producers receive the
commercial price plus USD 1.10/kg of
premium tea. Fairtrade has also designed
a specific standard for tea plantations,
conceived to support worker organizations
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Global Market Report
and their needs, and their progress toward
living wages (Fairtrade International, 2023).
Since 2020, Rainforest Alliance/UTZ has
required all tea buyers to pay a mandatory
sustainability dierential, which is an
additional cash payment made to certified
producers over and above the market price.
This additional payment can be used to
reinvest in the farm, for family needs, or
to cover production costs. Buyers also are
obliged to oer cash or in-kind investments
to certified producers. This “sustainability
investment” dierential aims to share
the costs of achieving and maintaining
certification and adopting more sustainable
farming practices (Rainforest Alliance,
2023). Both the sustainability dierential
and the investment amounts are paid based
on volumes redeemed on the Rainforest
Alliance traceability platform by the
player packing and/or selling the teas to
end consumers.
To illustrate how Fairtrade premiums are
positioned in the tea sector, Figure 5 shows
the average international price for made tea
in the Colombo, Kolkata, and Mombasa
auctions (2018 to 2022), as well as the
average Fairtrade prices (free on board
[FOB]/auctions), including premiums to
producers in India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka
from 2020 to 2022. The figure also shows
the average producer prices for tea leaves
in India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka in 2020–
2022. It should be noted that the prices
represented in the figure are estimates and
Figure 5. The average international market price for tea in the Colombo, Kolkata, and
Mombasa auctions (2018–2022); average prices and premiums for Fairtrade and
Fairtrade–Organic tea (FOB/auctions); and average farm gate prices received by tea
producers in India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka 2020–2022 (all in USD/kg)
Sources: Authors’ elaboration based on FAOSTAT, 2023; Fairtrade International, 2023; Preetha, 2023;
World Bank, 2021, 2023.
Note: Data for the three major auction markets are for 2018–2020; all the other data points in the figure
are for 2020-2022. These values are for green tea leaves.
Price (USD/kg)
Average Colombo: USD 3.40/kg
Average Kolkata: USD 2.60/kg
Average FTMP organic + premium:
USD 2.70/kg
Average FTMP conventional
+ premium: USD 2.53/kg
Average Mombasa: USD 2.26/kg
Average farm-gate price
conventional in India, Sri Lanka
and Kenya: USD 0.26/kg
0
1.0
0.5
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
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19
Tea Prices and Sustainability
do not reflect the reality of all tea growers in
these countries.
Our analysis and the data shown in Figure
5 signal that tea producers in main tea-
producing countries, such as Kenya, that
are associated with VSSs, such as Fairtrade,
may have received average prices and
premiums above the average international
market prices or prices at Mombasa
auctions in the 2020–2022 period. For
Kenyan producers, this can represent
about 15% higher prices for conventional
Fairtrade tea and about 23% higher
prices for Organic–Fairtrade teas in the
period analyzed.
Surprisingly, Sri Lankan and Indian
producers associated with Fairtrade
International may have received prices and
premiums that are at the same level or even
below the Colombo and Kolkata auction
average prices in the 2020–2022 period.
This could be because average prices at
auctions rose in 2021/22 due to higher
global market demand (World Bank, 2022)
and the last update on FTMPs was in 2020,
when international prices at auctions were
lower, at least in the Kolkata market.
Also, conventional tea producers usually
get a share of auction prices, as the selling
price is distributed among brokers and
other middlemen. Conventional farmers in
Kenya, for example, receive about 12% to
16% of the auction price, while those in Sri
Lanka and India get around 4% to 6% of
the final auction price. On the other hand,
farmers who are part of Fairtrade-compliant
cooperatives may get a higher share of the
final price of tea at auctions or FOB, as
there may be fewer intermediaries in the
negotiation process.
It is also important to note that, according
to Fairtrade International pricing terms, the
FTMP is the lowest possible price the buyer
must pay to the producer. In other words,
when the market price of tea is higher than
the FTMP, then at least the market price
must be paid, plus the mandatory premium
(Fairtrade International, 2023). According
to Figure 5, this means that Fairtrade- and
Fairtrade–Organic-compliant farmers in
Kenya, Sri Lanka, and India may have
been better protected against fluctuations
and received higher prices for their made
tea than conventional farmers when selling
their tea as Fairtrade and Fairtrade–Organic
compliant from 2020 to 2022.
Evidence of the eects of VSSs on tea
farmers’ prices and incomes is still
inconclusive. Results are highly context and
location specific. There is some evidence
of positive results for the livelihoods of
smallholder farmers who adopt VSSs
in the tea sector, while other studies
mention that positive eects on prices and
incomes are often small and limited to a
few beneficiaries (FAO Intergovernmental
Group on Tea, 2018).
As an example, a study among tea
smallholder farms in Vietnam shows that
farmers who transitioned to organic farming
believed they enjoyed greater export
opportunities and higher demand from
developed countries. They also reported
receiving higher prices than their non-
organic peers due to their potential to sign
contracts with tea companies that commit
to purchasing all their organic output.
Securing contracts reassures farmers and
enables them to focus more on quality
farming, as contracts specify the prices
they will receive in advance and lower
the financial risks (Thuy & Anh, 2021).
However, farmers’ incomes may decrease
in the first few years after converting
to organic production due to the high
production costs incurred and lower yields
(Bui & Huyen, 2020).
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Global Market Report
Tea farmers associated with VSSs, such as
Fairtrade, Organic, or Rainforest Alliance,
also may benefit from non-monetary
factors that can boost their incomes or
make them more resilient to price shocks.
These factors include improved access to
land, the possibility of growing other cash
crops with the premium received, and
more resilient production thanks to better
soil fertility and crop diversification (FAO
Intergovernmental Group on Tea, 2018).
VSSs can also give farmers the opportunity
to associate within cooperatives and
increase their negotiating power in the
marketplace, improve business systems and
access to markets, and develop long-term
partnerships with buyers (International
Fund for Agricultural Development, 2020;
Jennings et al., 2018).
While some producers may receive
monetary and non-monetary incentives
for VSS-compliant tea, ensuring that
price dierentials reach farmers is
sometimes dicult. In addition, there is
still the question of whether minimum
prices, premiums, and other dierentials
are enough to make a dierence in tea
farmer’s incomes and how to ensure that
these premiums are not a token amount.
Also, as mentioned above, one of the
biggest challenges of VSS-compliant tea
is the mismatch between production
and consumption. According to the
FAO, as little as 10% of certified tea is
sold as such, and farmers do not receive
premiums for the rest, which is sold as
conventional. In major consuming countries
such as Russia, China, and India, where
demand for certified goods is insucient,
tea is often sold on the conventional
market, and producers do not receive
a premium, despite having invested in
certifications (FAO Intergovernmental
Group on Tea, 2018).
The additional costs and fees to access and
maintain certifications (i.e., monitoring,
documentation, training, and planning)
are another limiting factor for smallholder
farmers, as adoption of standards can
result in extra costs in terms of production
processes, training, and auditing, which
may result in little increase in profits (FAO
Intergovernmental Group on Tea, 2018;
Foster & Graham, 2014). In countries such
as Nepal, for instance, smallholder farmers
find it challenging to adopt organic methods,
as they lack access to organic fertilizers and
cannot withstand the loss of productivity in
the initial years after conversion (SAAPE,
2022). Studies in tea-producing countries,
including Nepal, Uganda, Bangladesh, and
Vietnam, suggest that owners of larger
farms access more certifications than small
farmers. This may be because transitioning
from conventional farming requires the
adoption of new production methods
and significant capital investment, which
only larger-scale farmers can aord (Bui
& Huyen, 2020; FAO Intergovernmental
Group on Tea, 2018).
Public and private sector
actors implement other
supporting measures.
Tea-producing countries have adopted
policies and programs to shield producers
from volatile and low farm gate prices.
One example includes the introduction of
a minimum price for Kenyan teas sold at
the Mombasa auction by the Government
of Kenya. Other potential reforms to
be implemented in the country include
fertilizer subsidies, increases in monthly
payments to farmers, payment of bonuses,
and lower interest rates for Kenyan tea
farmers to ensure access to aordable
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
loans (Kurgat, 2023). Since early 2023,
the KTDA has been organizing a series
of meetings with tea growers and small
tea factories across Kenya to improve the
agency’s performance and accountability
while finding ways to increase returns to tea
growers. The reforms the agency is planning
include reducing management fees paid by
smallholder tea factories and introducing
the agency’s managers to key performance
indicators (Tea Board of Kenya, 2023;
Yaroslavsky, 2021).
The Government of Sri Lanka has tried
various strategies and policies, such as a
fertilizer subsidy scheme, new tree-planting
programs, and a subsidy to increase
competitiveness in the tea sector (Thasfiha
et al., 2020). In a bid to fully convert
the country to organic farming and as a
strategy to maintain foreign reserves at a
time of economic strife, the government
announced an abrupt ban on chemical
fertilizers in 2021. This decision harmed
the tea sector, as yields plummeted and
farmers suered financial losses due to crop
failure. Although the ban was reversed the
same year, it had already caused a great
deal of damage to the domestic tea industry
(Bellalou, 2022).
In India, the Tea Board is reviewing the
Tea Act, which dates from 1953, as some
of its provisions have become irrelevant
to the current market. The revised act will
introduce new objectives so the board can
act as a facilitator to encourage research,
help to improve production and the
quality of Indian tea, promote economic
sustainability, and give small tea growers
a greater role in decision making (Singh,
2022). The board is also taking steps toward
formulating policies to promote more
sustainable production practices in India
and introduce a system by which domestic
tea can be rated according to its compliance
standards related to environmental, quality,
and safety parameters (PTI, 2023).
Other multi-government eorts include
the International Tea Producers Forum,
founded in 2013 by Sri Lanka, India, Kenya,
Indonesia, Rwanda, and Malawi, which
account for more than half of global tea
production. Its objectives include protecting
the interests of tea-producing countries,
sharing knowledge, and boosting global
demand (Suchitra, 2013). The forum
also aims to promote quality standards
and ensure price stability to improve the
livelihoods of tea smallholders. Another
mechanism that has been created to
make the tea sector more transparent
is Tea 2030, a global project formed
by industry actors, non-governmental
organizations, and academics to help
build a sustainable tea industry. Its work
includes finding mechanisms to address
risk management resulting from price
volatility and advocating for better wages
and prices across the tea supply chain. The
project has been finalized, but the Ethical
Tea Partnership and the Sustainable
Trade Initiative (IDH) have continued
to develop activities originally designed
under Tea 2030 to accelerate sustainability
in the global tea industry (Forum for the
Future, 2023).
The Ethical Tea Partnership, a global
membership organization that includes
tea buyers, has undertaken projects in the
hopes of (i) resolving issues and improving
living and working conditions in Indian
tea estates, (ii) bettering the livelihoods
of smallholders in Malawi and Rwanda
through good agricultural practices and
income diversification programs, and (iii)
building climate resilience and income
diversification projects in Kenya in
partnership with the KTDA that have
raised the incomes of participating farmers
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Global Market Report
by more than USD 15 a month (Ethical Tea
Partnership, 2022, 2023).
On the private sector side, some tea buyers
in developed countries purchase VSS-
compliant or specialty teas through direct
trade. Although the specialty tea sector
represents a very small share of the total
tea market, these teas can attract up to 10
times the conventional prices and 2–3 times
the VSS-compliant prices at the export
level, as they cut out intermediaries and
buyers usually pay growers directly for
their crop (Voora et al., 2019). Specialty or
direct-trade buyers are willing to pay higher
prices, as their relationships with growers
and the reliability of supply and quality
prevail over economic considerations. Still,
many of these buyers follow the prices
being paid at auctions to make price
decisions based on the market and farmers’
needs (SAAPE, 2022).
In sum, governments, non-governmental
organizations, VSSs, and private sector
actors have developed various programs and
measures to improve the livelihoods of tea
farmers by boosting the prices and incomes
farmers receive. Not all farmers have
benefited, however, and many continue to
live in poverty.
Tea is still a commodity crop that is mostly
traded through auctions, which are heavily
influenced by a few actors in the value
chain that have little concern for the social,
environmental, and other negative impacts
of conventional tea production or the value
of more sustainable growing practices.
When setting the price of tea, market
fundamentals, including trading at low
prices at auctions, still dominate over the
work of farmers and the value of adopting
better agricultural practices that contribute
to environmental conservation and the well-
being of producers.
The Way Forward: What is
needed to address low farm
gate prices and build a
more sustainable tea value
chain?
Tea farmers’ incomes suer not only
because of low farm gate prices and their
limited capacity to influence the prices they
receive but also because of externalities
such as the volatility of input costs and
extreme weather conditions. Economic
sustainability for smallholder tea producers
can only be guaranteed if the returns from
tea-growing activities cover at least the
production costs and basic household
needs (FAO, 2022a). This also means that a
higher farm gate price does not necessarily
mean higher incomes for farmers. As prices
rise, so too can production costs, making
tea farmers even more susceptible to
market fluctuations.
In addition, government activity in
producing countries in setting minimum
price levels is a complex topic that
requires special attention. Minimum
prices and other reforms in the tea sector
should consider quality and sustainability
considerations to incentivize buyers to
pay prices that reflect these eorts. In that
sense, governments in major producing
countries like Kenya should consider
the implementation of minimum quality
standards, which would translate into
less low-quality tea and higher prices and
therefore a more sustainable industry.
Buyers and VSSs can also contribute by
finding ways to shift some of the realized
value generated through the value chain
back to farmers and producers.
This reality underscores the need to develop
new approaches and alternative business
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
models that address externalities in the tea
sector and reward the eorts of workers
and farmers, particularly those adopting
more sustainable practices. The following
list of best practices can mitigate the
negative eects of price volatility on farmers’
incomes while increasing them.
VSSs can offer better
prices and incomes to
compliant farmers to help
establish living incomes.
VSSs in the tea sector should work toward
mandating premiums or minimum
price levels that reflect the investments
and eorts made to join their schemes,
including premiums on quality for the tea
produced. This approach can also protect
compliant farmers from low farm gate
prices. Organic tea prices are still based on
international conventional market prices,
and, in some cases, farmers do not have
incentives to switch from conventional
production systems due to the additional
costs. Other VSSs, such as Trustea, have not
formally incorporated approaches to better
remunerate compliant farmers.
FTMPs should be reviewed and adjusted
to reflect the market more accurately, be
more impactful, and provide a cushion for
farmers. If FTMPs remain close to or below
conventional auction prices for an extended
period, farmers will question why they have
committed resources and time without
benefiting from doing so. In addition, the
whole smallholder farming system must
be considered when reassessing VSS prices
and premiums, as farm profitability for
many smallholder farmers depends on tea
and other crops. It is therefore important
that VSSs, with the support of other actors,
including buyers and producing countries,
find ways to eectively reward more
sustainable practices and results but also
to level up the inequitable sharing of value
in the tea industry. Rainforest Alliance’s
shared responsibility model is an interesting
approach looking to distribute the benefits
and costs of certification more evenly
between farmers and incomes (Rainforest
Alliance, 2023).
These eorts should go hand-in-hand with
establishing benchmarks to start defining
living income reference prices, as has been
done in other commodity sectors, such
as cocoa and coee. Indeed, the goal
should be to move from a living income
to a thriving income if sustainability is
to be claimed and achieved, as merely
living is not enough.
Promote the modernization
of tea auctions, moving
to set up mechanisms to
promote the trade of more
sustainable tea.
Global tea auctions have started to
modernize while considering the rapid
technological advancement in trading
processes in commodity markets. This
transformation was especially evident in
2020 when the pandemic obliged people
to follow social distancing and other
health guidelines that hindered physical
negotiations in traditional tea auctions
(Spencer, 2020). In 2021, for instance,
the Sri Lankan auction in Colombo
adopted a policy decision to digitalize,
materializing in the Advanced Integrated
Digital Auction Tea Platform developed
by a local technology company. This
system aims to automate all transaction
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Global Market Report
processes in the value chain that connect
to the auction system, from the factory to
the final settlement of the transaction’s
payment (OKLO, 2022).
Indian and Kenyan auction centres are
fully digitized with streamlined processes,
enabling brokers to move larger quantities
of tea faster. Going forward, tea auctions
could implement processes and systems
allowing negotiations to be opened for
dierent teas, such as those compliant with
a VSS or that present specific sustainability
or quality characteristics. Also, farmers
and tea plantations in many producing
countries are willing to invest and sell
directly to international buyers; however,
domestic policies prevent them from
bypassing auctions (Harvard CID, 2015).
In that sense, opening channels for direct
trade through e-platforms would thus
give farmers the opportunity to obtain
higher prices and premiums for their
tea and buyers the possibility to access
other types of teas based on their market
needs. This eort could be supported by
tea boards or private entities to facilitate
direct-trade systems, which also could be
an opportunity to include more farmers or
processors in the negotiation processes, as
digitalization allows for greater transparency,
traceability, and the availability of key
data on the volumes and prices of the teas
traded through auctions, as well as data
related to the trade of specific lots and
origins for buyers.
Encourage responsible
purchasing practices
among tea buyers.
Creating and strengthening linkages
between smallholder farmers and other
actors in the value chain is essential. Buyers
can help mitigate the economic risks of
smallholders and workers on tea plantations
by adopting good procurement practices,
such as building long-term relationships
with suppliers, paying a fair price, and being
consistent when placing orders (Ethical
Tea Partnership, 2022). This, in turn, can
help limit legal risks and protect brand
reputation, as sustainability and a focus
on environmental, social, and governance
performance are increasingly required.
VSSs can be instrumental in helping
farmers update their farming techniques
and requiring buyers to provide information
on prices and volumes of VSS-compliant
products purchased by, for example,
collecting updated data and developing
sharing mechanisms, including anonymous
transactions that farmers can access via
smartphones. Access to market information
could enable farmers to receive higher
and stable prices, improve tea quality,
obtain updated pricing information, and
strengthen their bargaining power (Khoi
et al., 2015).
Tea buyers such as Verdant Tea, Red
Blossom Tea Company, and the English Tea
Shop Ltd. are more responsible purchasers.
They buy directly from small-scale farmers,
usually purchase VSS-compliant tea such
as Organic and Fairtrade, and are more
transparent in their pricing and costs by
sharing pricing data on their websites
(Covey, 2018; Duckler, 2014). The English
Tea Shop buys around 29% of Sri Lanka’s
total organic tea production. By reaching
out directly to customers, FOB prices fetch
up to USD 30/kg, while conventional teas
receive an average of 4.60/kg at auctions
(SAAPE, 2022). These are examples of
fairly small businesses; however, if the big
tea businesses would implement similar
approaches, the impact would be amplified.
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
As already noted, buyers should engage
more in direct trade as it oers them more
stable relationships and gives farmers
an opportunity to establish linkages
to markets and obtain quick returns
on investments. If buyers cannot trade
directly, they should engage in frequent
dialogue with intermediaries to understand
if their purchasing practices can be
improved. Buyers can also initiate full
supply chain meetings, including suppliers,
intermediaries, workers, and workers
representatives, to discuss how practices
can be improved (Ethical Tea Partnership,
2022). Also, to promote better purchasing
practices and market linkages, farmers
need support from local organizations,
institutional actors, and even VSSs to
have access to facilities, packaging, and
shipments, as well as to help them find the
right buyers. One possibility is engaging
cooperatives to support smallholders in
enabling direct trade for a small fee and
making it a win–win value-add proposition.
In addition, producing countries and their
tea boards should work to reduce the
administrative and legal barriers to direct
trade that smallholder farmers encounter.
Buyers, traders, and
industry associations can
collaborate to improve
price transparency for
farmers.
Among the major challenges in the tea
sector are the slow flow of information
across the value chain and the lack of
transparency on prices and premium
transmissions from the final consumer
level down to the primary producer. There
appear to be no clear mechanisms to inform
buyers about investments and the final price
and premiums paid to the producers. Tea
buyers usually report on FOB prices, but
they cannot track payments up to the farm.
On the other hand, VSSs and buyers report
total premiums or second payments as
lump sums as being invested in farmers
and cooperatives. However, farmers are not
always clear about how much they receive
or the amount of premiums and earnings
that are being used in cooperative activities
(Baptista & Jenkins, 2017). In addition,
farmers in many producing countries
often do not know the prices that their tea
obtained in auctions. In countries such as
Rwanda, farmers pay trading commissions
but do not negotiate them (Monroy
et al., 2013).
Transparency is key to creating trust and
a deeper understanding of the intrinsic
value of tea. It can also help to reduce
costs and strengthen relationships between
producers and buyers. VSSs can play a
role by promoting mechanisms to ensure
full transparency on how premiums are
spent. VSSs, including Trustea, already have
platforms in place—such as Tracetea, a
digital traceability system that helps farmers
keep records on tea inputs, plucking
details, and other information. It can also
serve as a platform to access historical and
live data on prices at auctions or to keep
records on transactions and prices obtained,
as well as oer an analysis of farmers’
financial performance.
Governments of tea-producing countries
can also play a role in asking tea estates
and tea manufacturers to contribute to
price transparency by releasing information
about quantities of produced tea and the
share of sales returns distributed to workers
and farmers. This could be in the form of a
periodic release of the prices paid for green
tea leaves and prices fetched at auctions.
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Global Market Report
Other mechanisms, such as SMS technology,
can be used to create transparency around
tea prices. These types of tools have already
been implemented and used by coee
producers in East Africa that have limited
access to the Internet and where vital
information, such as kg of coee purchased,
cash balances, expenses, and storage
information data, is received and shared via
text messages (Technoserve, 2016). This
technology can potentially be used by tea
industry actors, such as buyers or exporters,
to share comprehensive information on the
finances and distribution of premiums to
small-scale farmers. This would also make
tea cooperatives accountable to the financial
institutions from which they sought
financing by providing an accurate picture
of their annual performance and reducing
financing risks (Baptista & Jenkins, 2017).
Invest in high-quality
and sustainable land
management and reward
farmers who adopt
sustainable production
practices.
Quality is linked to higher prices in the
tea market. Farmers usually know the
value of quality, but often, the local
systems or structures do not give an
opportunity to reward it. Thus, improving
quality and volume at the farm level also
greatly depends on policy developments
(Agrilogic, 2018). This improvement
would require new governance, policies,
and procedures to create a more merit-
based method to pay farmers (Baptista &
Jenkins, 2017). Improving quality increases
farmers’ revenue, drives innovation, and
opens new markets.
As higher volumes increase market
supply and result in lower prices, it is
therefore key that quality and yield-
improvement programs lead to freeing
land for diversification in other crops and/
or activities to supplement income from
tea. Sustainable management strategies can
also increase farmers’ prices and incomes
and can be potentially supported by VSSs
in the sector. Tea is extremely vulnerable
to climate-related events, so it is vital
to promote measures such as planting
drought- and stress-tolerant tea cultivars,
diversifying production, and intercropping
tea with other tree crops. Investing in water
conservation technologies (FAO, 2022a).
One example is the implementation of
a training program on the adoption of
sustainable land management practices in
tea led by Rikolto and Rainforest Alliance
in Vietnam. The program lifted farmers’
income by an average of 30% due to a
reduction in chemical use and an increase
in the quality of fresh tea leaves (Rikolto in
Vietnam, 2018).
UNEP is collaborating with Rainforest
Alliance to establish the Sustainable Tea
Production Landscapes project. This
project “aims … to protect and restore
soil fertility, enhance carbon sequestration,
and conserve the biodiversity found in tea
production landscapes, [and] it also aims
to secure farmers’ livelihoods by reducing
their vulnerability to climate-related
crop failure” (UNEP, 2018). Thanks to
the program, families in some countries,
including Vietnam, have seen their incomes
increase and received higher prices for
their crops due to the improved quality of
their tea (UNEP, 2018). The success of
these types of interventions also relies on
adequate policies and institutional support
in tea landscapes.
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
Additionally, governments in producing
and consuming countries could formulate
policies to financially reward smallholder
farmers that adopt more sustainable
agricultural practices and subsequently
show results. These policies can take
the form of payments for environmental
services. International tea certification
schemes, such as Fairtrade, Organic, and
the Rainforest Alliance, could also “engage
with farmers and countries to adapt and
or develop standards to include extra steps
to, for instance, mitigate carbon emissions
throughout the tea’s value chain” and
reward farmers for this (FAO & Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 2021).
Farmers need access to
finance and alternative
sources of income.
Access to finance and investment
financing to fund agricultural growth and
transformation is a persistent challenge
in the tea sector. Tea farmers in many
producing countries cannot easily access
financial services for investment or
crop insurance systems. In addition, tea
cooperatives in major producing countries
are in debt and struggling to repay their
loans (Ntirenganya, 2019), as tea is a
capital-intensive crop and accessing
loans is risky, especially when farmers are
uncertain about the final prices they obtain
for their produce.
Expansion in the tea sector will require
substantial financial support and the
promotion of alternative income activities
to farmers (International Fund for
Agricultural Development, 2016), as
tea farming alone in many countries is
insucient to meet the needs of a farming-
only household. Therefore, strategic on-
farm income diversification can create
opportunities for the next generation of
tea farmers to close the economic gap
between the income received from growing
tea and the cost of living. As an example,
intercropping tea bushes with nitrogen-
fixing plants such as peanuts or pinto beans
is a technique that has been promoted in
Vietnam to improve soil fertility, reduce
erosion, and generate additional income
opportunities for tea farmers (Rikolto
in Vietnam, 2018). Another interesting
example is possibly using tea waste to create
products such as vegan leather, benches,
vending machines, and even paper items
and cardboard boxes (Sagasaki, 2023).
This would represent great value addition
at source, directly benefiting farmers. It is
therefore a good focal point for intervening
players to shift these activities to farmers.
Finally, another option is to promote value-
addition activities in origin countries, as
processing and packing usually take place in
the consumer country. Monetary incentives,
such as value-added tax exemptions, a
reduction in the withholding tax, holiday
and equipment taxes, and other incentives
intended to relocate tea packaging to
producing countries, could be considered
to support export-oriented investors, as
happened in countries including Kenya and
China (Monroy et al., 2013). Nevertheless,
these incentives cannot undermine the
capacity of governments to collect fiscal
revenue or aect local employment and
trade. The incentives must be balanced to
increase local value addition while saving
overseas companies some costs, making it a
win–win situation.
However, producing-country governments
must support these eorts by providing an
enabling environment that modernizes the
tea industry and gives more opportunities to
small-scale farmers. In Nepal, for instance,
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Global Market Report
smallholders have formed cooperatives and
established factories to process green leaves
and produce made tea that fetches higher
prices. However, the government legally
restricts them from branding their products
and selling their processed tea, which
shows the lack of institutional support,
disincentivizes innovation, and prevents
farmers from competing with private sector
actors (Dhar et al., 2022).
Building sustainable and resilient tea-
production systems is essential to ensuring
that tea farmers prosper. It requires industry
actors—including VSSs—to coordinate
and implement eective measures to
reduce costs, help farmers adopt more
sustainable practices, and ensure they are
rewarded fairly. Measures targeting price
transparency, increasing financial rewards
for farmers, and improving contract terms,
combined with opening increased direct-
trade relationships, can make a dierence to
farmers’ livelihoods.
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Tea Prices and Sustainability
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IISD.org/ssi
39
Tea Prices and Sustainability
Vivek Voora, Cristina Larrea, and Erika Luna prepared the “Market Overview” section; Steffany
Bermúdez and Cristina Larrea prepared the section “A Dive into Tea Prices.”
Peer reviewers: Judith Ganes and Joyce Maina
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Alix Albright and Lucy Everett in conducting research
on sustainable consumption preferences in developing countries and collecting information about
sustainable sourcing from tea buyers.
Voora, V., Bermúdez, S., & Larrea, C. (2019). Global market report: Tea. International Institute
for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/global-market-
report-tea
Voora, V., Larrea, C., Huppe, G., & Nugnes, F. (2022). Standards and investments in sustainable
agriculture. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/
system/files/2022-04/ssi-initiatives-review-standards-investments-agriculture.pdf
Yaroslavsky, N. (2021). Helping Kenyan tea farmers rise out of poverty. The Borgen Project.
https://borgenproject.org/helping-kenyan-tea-farmers/
The Sustainable Commodities Marketplace Series provides a market performance
overview and outlook for key agricultural commodities that comply with a number of
voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs), focusing on global sustainable consumption
and production. Each year, the series focuses on a different overarching theme, with
individual reports for that year devoted to providing a market update for a chosen
commodity. These reports are designed to be accessible and relevant for a range of
audiences, including supply chain decision-makers, procurement officers, policy-makers,
and producers. The series builds on The State of Sustainable Markets 2021, a joint
publication from IISD, the International Trade Center (ITC), and the Research Institute
of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), which examines over a dozen sustainability standards for
various commodities.
This Global Market Report analyzes trends in tea production, consumption, trade flows,
and other relevant areas. It uses 2019 data for tea production that is VSS-compliant,
given that this was the most current data available when we conducted the analysis. The
report also examines prices and margins in the tea sector, looking at how VSSs contribute
to increasing farm prices. It also provides recommendations to VSSs and other actors
to increase the price and income that farmers obtain for green tea leaves and build
sustainable and resilient tea systems.
IISD’s State of Sustainability Initiatives advances sustainable and inclusive value chains
by providing credible and solutions-oriented research, dialogue, and strategic advice for
decision-makers about voluntary sustainability standards and other supportive initiatives.
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