Indonesia's per capita tea consumption still very low

Indonesia's per capita tea consumption still very low

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's per capita tea consumption is only
about 200 grams a year, chairman of the Indonesian Tea
Association, Rachmat Badruddin, says.

Rachmat said Indonesian tea consumption was much lower than
Ireland's 2,700 grams and England's 2,500 grams.

He said at the International Tea Business Conference in Bali
on Tuesday that some of the reasons were: "weak promotional
efforts and the questionable method of making tea itself,"
reported Antara.

"An enduring habit of Indonesian families is to use the same
tea several times over to make drinks."

With other countries using tea once only, Indonesia could
hardly be expected to increase tea consumption, he said.

Rachmat also said that the Food And Agricultural Organization
(FAO) had contributed US$500,000 to upgrade promotional efforts
and bolster low consumption. Likewise, the Indonesian Tea
Association has set aside $76,000 for promoting tea.

Executive secretary of the Indonesian Tea Association Moeljono
Partosoedarso said Indonesian tea exports had borne the brunt of
the weakened international market price of tea.

The year 1996 saw a dip in Indonesian tea exports to 98,000
tons from 123,000 tons in 1993. Importing countries include the
United States, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

Tea plantations in Indonesia cover 151,000 hectares, yielding
about 150,000 tons a year.

One hundred and fifty representatives attended the conference
from consuming and producing countries namely Sri Lanka, India,
United States, Europe, Japan, Middle East and Indonesia.

This was the first conference in Indonesia, the last eleven
were in Rome, Italy. (25)