The price of a cup of tea could rise after the world’s biggest producers agreed to join forces to boost profits, a Sri Lankan minister announced Wednesday.
After two days of talks in Colombo between Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Indonesia, Malawi and Rwanda, which account for more than 50 per cent of global production, the nations announced the formation of the International Tea Producers’ Forum.
“Price stability is one of the objectives to improve the livelihoods of tea smallholders [farmers owning small plots of tea],” he said. “Another objective is to ensure high quality standards.”
“People can pay a little more for tea,” Ms. Kuruppu said. “In Sri Lanka, tea is cheaper than bottled water.”
World’s tea producers brew up a plan to raise pricesChina and Iran, two of the big consumer nations, have been invited to be observers to the Forum. China is also the world’s biggest producer of green tea.
My world is over. Goodbye $4 bags of pure Kenyan and Assam goodness.
