Experts at the recently held 2nd China International Tea Expo called on Chinese tea enterprises to build world-class tea brands, to broaden their global influence. 

China, as the world’s largest producer and consumer of tea, has a huge variety of quality tea. However, the profit margin of over 10,000 Chinese tea enterprises is behind that of the British tea brand Lipton.

Although China has beaten the rest of the world when it comes to both planting area and production of tea for 13 consecutive years, it does not have a world-class tea brand, Tang Ke, director of the market and economic information department of the Ministry of Agriculture pointed out.

A report released by the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences also shows that among a sample group of 10,000 tea consumers from 10 Chinese cities, only 11 percent bought tea from the same company. Such a result reflects the lack of brand influence when it comes to Chinese tea.

Jiang Aiqin, an expert in the tea industry disclosed that this is due to many factors. As China’s tea industry is dominated by smallholders, they cannot obtain financial support to create brands.

In addition, despite the high standard of tea products in China, they aren't well-received among consumers. It's difficult to create a commercial tea brand with consumer trust, said Jiang.

Experts therefore suggest Chinese tea enterprises make efforts to build world-known tea brands by introducing capital, creating standards which will instigate consumer trust and combining Chinese tea culture with product promotion.