September Tea Report: China Exports & US Imports
September 2020 trade data was recently published by the China Tea Marketing Association and the US Census Bureau,
CHINA TEA EXPORTS
- September 2020 total MT was 2.5% above last September
- Total Jan-Sep exports for 2020 exceed 263,000 MT, a decrease of around 4% over the same period 2019
- Export values are up, despite the overall decline in volume
- Total YTD value was up approximately 3.5%, and average $/kg price was up almost 8%
US TEA IMPORTS
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- US imports of worldwide black tea fell by about 12%, and green tea fell a little over 10% by volume over the previous year
- China accounted for about 11% of total tea imports, and roughly 40% of all green tea for YTD imports into the US
- Jan – Sep Import volumes of Chinese black teas have fallen nearly 40%, and greens have fallen by almost 20% compared to YTD 2019
At the time of writing, there is no strong indication that the predicted “Shipageddon” is significantly hampering imports/exports at this point. Any delays significant enough to skew data will likely not show until October or later.