According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam exported 58,000 tons of tea worth approximately US$94 million during the first half of this year, down 8.7% in volume and 3.4% in value against the same period last year.

Major importers included Pakistan (accounting for 28.4% of market share), Taiwan (13.5%) and Russia (13.3%).

The MARD’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (AgroTrade) says saturation of the world market is one of the main reasons for the slowdown affecting Vietnam’s tea exports over the first months of the year.

However, the average export price increased 5.8% to US$1,631 per ton over the first half of the year, which shows a strong rise in the value of Vietnamese tea on international markets. To take advantage of this trend, tea production and export businesses must further invest in developing value chains, with more attention paid to food hygiene and safety, to improve the image of Vietnamese tea and raise its prestige on the international market.

On the domestic market, the price of tea remained stable throughout June.

The AgroTrade says there are no signs to indicate that there will be any sharp fluctuations in the price of tea into July and the later months of the year.