Tea News and Biz Insight - March 11, 2021

HEAR THE HEADLINES

First Flush Harvest Underway | Tea Price Report | Tea Relaxes Blood Vessels | Celebrating the Green

| GUEST
Yasuharu Matsumoto, vice president of the Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms.

| NEWS First Flush Harvest Underway

Droves of COVID-19 wary pluckers are working gardens in China, Sri Lanka, and India amid favorable weather after a dry winter. The Darjeeling first flush is underway.
Consumer demand for premium tea increased during the pandemic and pricing is firm, but there is uncertainty throughout the entire supply chain as to when newly processed tea will reach market. Waiting time for obtaining container space on a ship is now 3-10 weeks at rates 50-200% higher than mid-year. Wholesalers are raising shipping minimums and pricing significant increases due to shipping. Retailers that absorbed some of the financial shock of 2020 project steep increases this year to recover losses.

Introducing Weekly Tea Price Report

Price volatility is a weekly concern which is why Tea Biz is launching the Tea Price Report. The podcast will report auction averages and prices for specific types of tea, drawing on many sources including, tea boards, traders, and the China Tea Marketing Association which provides a benchmark for the 10 teas most commonly exported. We welcome comments and suggestions. The full report can be viewed at www.tea-biz.com

| FEATURES

This week Tea Biz travels to Japan on the 10th anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake, a seismic event so powerful that it shifted the earth’s axis and tested both the resolve and resilience of Japan’s tea industry.
…. and in recognition of International Women’s Day, we visit with the directors of THIRST, The Roundtable for Sustainable Tea, an organization committed to respect the rights of workers and farmers.

Tohoku Tea Relief Caravan

Five hundred miles south of the destruction, Yasuharu Matsumoto, vice president of the Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantations, called for volunteers to travel north on a mission motivated by kindness.
Ten months after the tsunami the flotsam and rubble remained, with buses and boats precariously balanced on roof tops of multi-story buildings. Listen to the story of the Tohoku Tea Caravan.


Women’s rights in tea with Sabita Banerji and Krishanti Dharmaraj

In recognition of International Women’s Day, Tea Biz spoke with Sabita Banerji and Krishanti Dharmaraj from THIRST, The International Roundtable for Sustainable Tea. Sabita was born and raised in tea gardens in Assam and Munnar. She is an economic justice advisor and the founder and CEO of THIRST. Krishanti Dharmaraj is a THIRST trustee and Executive Director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in New York and co-founder of WILD for Human Rights (Women’s Institute for Leadership Development).

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