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)