Vietnam leads in tea exports to Taiwan

Statistics from the Taiwan Foreign Trade Administration (BOFT) show that last year Taiwan imported more than 33,000 tons of tea from more than 30 partners around the world. Total tea import turnover of this economy reached USD 87.8 million, up 8.58% in volume and 13.39% in turnover compared to 2020.

Vietnam continues to be the largest supplier of tea to Taiwan in 2021 with 18,330 tons, reaching 28.91 million USD, up 7.1% in volume and 7.47% in value compared to 2020. This amount accounts for 55.23% market share of imports to Taiwan. However, compared to 9 years ago, this proportion has decreased by 8%.

The reason for the decrease in market share was due to the impact of the epidemic for 3 consecutive years, making export activities difficult. On the other hand, Taiwan is increasingly strict in goods control, which raises the standard of tea. This reduces the amount of Vietnamese tea exported to the Taiwan market. In particular, many Vietnamese enterprises have not reached the residue threshold of pesticides.

At the consulting session on exporting tea and coffee products to Taiwan and Hong Kong markets last week, Ms. Nguyen Thu Thuy – Deputy Director of the Export Support Center (Ministry of Industry and Trade), assessed if Vietnam could improve tea quality, this year exports of this product to the above markets may increase sharply.

In the first 2 months of the year, Vietnam’s tea exports reached 2,000 tons, worth 3 million USD, up 3.5% in volume and 0.9% in value over the same period in 2021. Vietnam has also been exported to more than 70 countries and territories. In which, Pakistan, Taiwan, Russia, Indonesia, mainland China are 5 key markets of Vietnamese tea.

Currently, the main competitor for Vietnam’s tea in Taiwan is Sri Lanka (accounting for 15.43% of the market share); India (10.28%); Indonesia (6.46%) and China (4.79%)…

According to Taiwan’s regulations, tea products imported into this market must comply with “regulations on inspection of imported food and related products”. Importers must register for inspection with the Food and Drug Administration of Taiwan (FDA), in which, some products are prohibited from importing items originating from mainland China.

According to Taiwan’s import tariff, the import tariff on tea of ​​Vietnamese origin ranges from 17% to 22% or 25% depending on the type. In particular, the allowable residues of pesticides and Fipronil are 0.002ppm instead of 0.005ppm (2014).

Thi Ha