Colombo International Tea Convention begins:
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said attention should be drawn on new ways and methods of tea production, promotion and sales to meet changes in the tea industry by 2050. He added that it is needed to identify the changes and advancements of the tea industry by 2050.
The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing the Colombo International Tea Convention at the BMICH yesterday. The three day convention will be held until Friday (11) with the participation of local and foreign delegates in the tea industry.
In line with the convention, the iconic brand name ‘Ceylon Tea’ is celebrating its 150 year now.
The Prime Minister noted that the tea industry should be subject to certain changes to address demands in the tea industry. It is important to gain necessary technological advancements of the tea industry to meet the trends in 2050.
“You must take a hard look at the future of the tea industry. We have to think outside the box to meet the challenges in promoting and marketing of the tea industry” he noted.
He added that the tea industry needs new investments aiming to move forward.
“If you don’t invest you will vanish, if you invest you survive” he pointed out.
While drawing attention on the Sri Lankan tea industry, the Prime Minister said that modernisation was started in 1835 first in Asia. With the modernisation moves, tea industry benefited for many parts of the country.The tea industry created a strong and wealthy Sri Lankan middleclass and need to invest elsewhere.
When a new Government formed under late President J.R. Jayewardene in 1977, the tea industry completely changed. Under that government millions of money invested in the plantation sector especially in tea plantation and estate sector. Under that government, infrastructure was mooted. Those investments made the way for plantations industry to move on and acquire a radical change.
“The tea smallholders were encouraged to enter into tea industry and it resulted that many people in Sabaragamuwa and Southern parts of the country to enter the tea industry. The tea industry was modernised after 70th and 80th decades” he said.
Finally 70 per cent of the tea production is coming from tea smallholders while only 30 per cent comes from mega scale tea companies.The value addition ratio is 40 per cent of the total production. This is a result of nationsation and the development of the tea industry under the 1977 government. After 1977 the plantation industry was subjected to a radical and speedy development.
The Prime Minister pointed out that the Colombo tea auction is the oldest continuous tea auction in the world.Tea production has doubled from 1995 to 2015. But at the same time the gap between the production and the consumption has increased. Instead of the surplus in the market, consumption has also increased.Tea exports as a percentage of the Global tea production has gone down from 43 per cent in 2006 and 34 per cent in 2015. However tea consumption in India and China has gone up.
“While focussing on the future of the industry, when considering the population growth in 2050 of the additional 2 billion people to the world population he said that various subsidiary drinks are coming in to take the place of tea. But are we ready to compete with these alternative drinks,” he queried.
Online marketing as a new system of tea action may shift to the industry.Colombo tea traders have to think of online marketing and trading.The system of supply chain and sales system will also change in the future.
“Then it is needless to supply tea in the traditional way in a tea cup” he said. “What is the technology to have new products?. Attention should be drawn on the new ways and methods of the tea industry to meet the demands of the market by 2050” he said.
But by 2050 many people will move to service and industry sector. Then there will be a dearth in labour, he said while focussing his attention on the future demands and the threats of the tea industry.
“We have to rapidly increase the value added percentage of our total tea production. We have to go for new method of promoting and marketing while thinking outside the box. It is needed more and more investments. It is important to welcome foreign investments if the local investment is not sufficient. If you don’t invest you will destroy, if you invest you will survive. There is only one market for tea.It is global tea market” the Prime Minister said.