Year 2010: Tea worth Rs23.5b consumed

Average amount of tea consumed per annum an individual in Pakistan last year was 1.37 kg.


Kashif Hussain January 04, 2011

KARACHI: Pakistan is ranked the fourth largest tea consuming country in the world. In the calendar year 2010, tea import bill of the country stood at Rs23.5 billion and if the value of smuggled tea is added the total value of tea consumed was Rs34 billion.

Tea remains subjected to heavy taxes and duties, but traders consider these taxes and duties to be unfair and say that tea is a common man’s drink. They substantiate their claim by illuminating the fact that there has been an increase in the demand of tea following an increase in poverty.

Traders are also of the opinion that heavy taxation is encouraging tea smuggling and its demand locally as it is cheaper than the tea imported via legal channel. Hence 45 per cent of the total tea demand is being met by smuggled tea.

According to the annual import statistics released by Pakistan Tea Association, 0.120 million tons were legally imported in 2010 which was 39 per cent more compared to 2009. This quantity constitutes 55 per cent of the total tea demand.

Globally, Australia leads the charts with 2.7 kilogrammes of tea consumed by an individual followed by Iran with 2.4 kg, Turkey 2.15 kg, Sri Lanka 1.45 kg, Pakistan 1.37 kg, Japan one kg, India 500 grammes and China 300 grammes.

Around 60 percent of tea is imported from Kenya, 17 per cent from India and the remainder from other countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2011.

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