Tea Biz News and Insight - March 4, 2022

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Russian Invasion Roils Tea Trade | Duncans Troubled Tea Gardens are Bought Out of Bankruptcy | The Pandemic Transformed Tea Tourism, a TEAIN22 Forecast

| NEWSMAKER – Anil Cooke, managing director and CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities 

| FEATURES – This week Tea Biz travels to Colombo, Sri Lanka to assess the impact of the war in Ukraine on one of the Russian Federation’s most important tea trading partners. Correspondent Dananjaya Silva spoke with veteran exporter Anil Cooke, managing director and CEO of Asia Siyaka Commodities. Cooke's insights offer clarity amid a fast-changing crisis that is disturbing global harmony in tea.

Sri Lanka's Close Ties to Russia and Ukraine –Russia, which annually imports 150,000 metric tons of tea faces an unprecedented combination of payment and logistics barriers that are already interrupting supply. The combined resolve of governments condemning the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has created uncertainty over prompt clearance of payments. Sanctions that exclude Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system and threats to the liquidity of Russia’s Central Bank led to a severe devaluation of the ruble making tea imports far more costly. In addition, closing airspace and the collective refusal of the world’s shipping companies to deliver or receive goods pose severe barriers to the movement of tea.

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