Mideast buys Sumatra tea

MEDAN (JP): A state-tea plantation company in Sumatra will soon export 686.4 tons of black tea worth US$878,500 to Middle East countries.

P.K. Ginting, spokesman for PTP VIII, whose plantations are located in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Jambi, said his company to date has gained US$13.89 million from tea exports.

"Ninety five percent of our product is exported, only five percent is sold domestically," Ginting said, adding that the consumption of tea in Indonesia is still very low, being 0.4 kilogram per capita, as compared to 4.8 kilograms in Middle East countries.

Indonesia, with its 145,000 hectares of tea fields, is the fifth largest tea producer in the world after India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and China. Indonesia's annual production is 140,000 tons, of which 110,000 tons are exported. (ahn/rid)