Sri Lanka Tea Board to showcase the best of Sri Lankan tea

With Indian consumption of Sri Lankan tea rising rapidly, the Sri Lanka Tea Board has reserved a special pavilion at the 3rd edition of World Tea & Coffee Expo (WTCE) 2015 being held in Mumbai, India’’s commercial capital, from October 1-3, 2015. Under the aegis of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, a number of companies shall be showcasing various kinds of bulk and packet tea with a view to increase bilateral trade with India. During the current year itself (i.e., 2015), Sri Lanka has exported more than 300 tons of tea to India. Sri Lankan companies shall be displaying Ceylon Super Pekoe black tea, Ceylon green tea, White tea, Ceylon Silver tip tea, instant tea, and specialty types of tea for which Sri Lanka is famous.

According to Mr. Y.G. Wijeratne, Chairman,Sri Lanka Tea Board, “India has a large and growing consumer base with varied levels of income,making it a great market for all kinds of Tea. Our participation in WTCE 2015 will enable us to promote Sri Lankan companies in India at a dedicated trade fair which provides an opportunity to directly interact with Indian buyers, potential partners and government officials”.

Although India is the second largest producer of tea in the world – because of its population size – it is also the 2ndlargest consumer of Tea. With changing lifestyles, large-scale urbanization and mushrooming of upscale cafes for both Tea & Coffee, demand for non traditional tea like Premium tea, green tea, white tea etc is growing at a whopping 20% annually. Due to shortage of high quality premium tea supply in India, Indian branded tea companies buy premium tea from Kenya and Sri Lanka.

The 3rd World Tea & Coffee Expo 2015 offers a platform, which promises to not only boost the Indian Tea and Coffee industry; but also strengthen relationships between India and the participating nations. In addition to a display of products, Vending Solutions, machineries, technologies and certifications from the entire gamut of the Hot beverage sector, additional activities at the Expo include: B2B match-making, Workshops & Championships, a High Level 2-day Conference by Industry leaders, academicians and policy makers, export/import guidance kiosks, Knowledge zone etc. The WTCE platform is utilized by many companies as alaunching pad for new products.

Defining the vision behind the Expo, Ms Priti M Kapadia, Director, Sentinel Exhibitions Asia P Ltd, organizers of the expo, states, “The World Tea & Coffee Expo was launched in 2013 to offer an organized avenue for all the industry stakeholders to come together under a single roof for networking, business expansion and ideas exchange. The Expo shall emphasize the prospects of the HotBeverage sector as also showcase technological innovations in this important sector.”

WTCE is supported by many eminent trade bodies including Tea Board of India (Govt. of India) and fulfils the need for an organized event for Tea & Coffee Companies in India to come together.