STiR coffee and tea magazine

28 STiR coffee and tea | 2026 Quarter 2 Summer (Jun/July/Aug) The majority of Kenya's tea is destined for Pakistan, which imported $557.1 million worth of tea in 2024, while a significant amount ($32.8 million in 2024) ends up in Iran as well. Photo credit: Tea Board of Kenya Iran is a crucial destination for Sri Lankan orthodox black tea due to the country's barter deal, where tea exports pay for oil shipments. Photo credit: Diana Jendoubi A large portion of Vietnam's teas are destined for Pakistan and Afghanistan, but many of those shipments have been returned mid-journey due to shipping disruptions. Photo credit: Quang Nguyen Vinh first flush production window, emphasizing that the tea industry in Darjeeling supports 55,000 workers. According to a report by Business Standard, Darjeeling's first and second flush teas constitute 40% of the region's annual tea production, but generate 80% of its annual revenue. Susmit Pratik of Ketlee.In, a small business focusing on specialty Indian teas, noted that tea makers in Meghalaya faced issues with a lack of LPG sup- ply as recently as April. "The commercial ones still aren't available, and their prices have increased by 35%," he commented. "[This] has hit [producers] at their most productive season with no time to prepare for it, impacting big and small producers alike." Pratik has also been affected by shipping disruptions, with India's postal service postponing operations to many destinations in the Middle East for nearly two months, from March 2 until April 29. Private delivery services like DHL have also added hazard costs while the conflict continues. India's total tea export volume set a record high of 281 million kilograms in 2025, valued at approxi- mately $1 billion — 43% of that amount was ex- ported to destinations in the Middle East, which are currently at risk due to the ongoing conflict. Vietnam Rocked by fuel shortages and logistical pains, both Vietnam's coffee and tea industries face disruptions to production and shipment, with reports of tea shipments bound for Afghanistan being returned mid-route. Amid the conflict, producers were reluc- tant to begin this year's spring harvest, resulting in delayed plucking and reduced product quality. One example is Ban Lau Commune in Lao Cai Province. Around 1,400 tons of tea remained stuck there as of March 17, and the People's Com- mittee took drastic steps to keep the spring harvest moving, requesting that the Provincial People's Council offer interest rate subsidies on tea pro- duction loans to ensure that the tea fields could continue to support the local workforce of around 3,000 harvesters. More than half of Vietnamese tea exports in 2025 were destined for countries near Iran, includ- ing Pakistan (47.3%), Saudi Arabia (2.6%), and Iraq (2.2%), with a total value exceeding $117 million. Much of the tea bound for Pakistan continues on to Afghanistan, making Afghanistan the largest desti- nation market for Vietnamese commodity teas. Than Ngu of Vietnamese tea export company Vostea regards this as a major liability. "Vietnam depends too much on the Afghanistan market," he says. "It started about 30 years ago. Vietnam began replacing Bangladesh and Indonesia as a supplier in 1998. So about 50% of Vietnamese tea goes to Afghanistan."

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