China’s tea production to exceed 1.4 million tonnes in spring harvest season of 2022

In March 2022, tea production bases across China have entered the spring harvest season. It is estimated that China’s total tea output in the spring season of this year will exceed 1.4 million tonnes.

Aerial photo taken on April 26, 2022 shows the view of a tea garden in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, central China's Hubei Province. (Photo by Yang Shunpi/Xinhua)

In central China’s Hunan Province, a tea company directly collects tea leaves from local farmers, who run a total of 20,000 mu (1,333 hectares) of tea plantations. Recently, the tea growers have been busy picking tea leaves. “Every day, about 200 farmers will come to the plantations to pick tea leaves, and each farmer can earn 300 yuan ($45.9) per day,” said an executive from the tea company.

While collecting tea leaves from local farmers, Hunan Tea Group Co., Ltd. offers price protection to the farmers. As a result, about 500,000 local tea growers are nowadays free from worries that they might not be able to smoothly sell their products due to the restricted logistics capacity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hunan Tea Group Co., Ltd. has built 99 high-quality tea plantations across the province, with the tea business being able to bring an additional 9,400 yuan of income on average for each tea grower in one year.

In addition, the company has taken vigorous efforts to promote synergy among tea leaf collection sites, distribution centers, and the sales network, and has built six modern tea industrial parks in the locality.

In recent years, China’s tea industry has achieved rapid development, with areas such as tea cultivation, tea production and tea consumption being further strengthened. In 2021, China’s tea production surpassed 3 million tonnes for the first time.