Tea

Tea Pluckers in a Fairtrade Certified Tea Garden in Sri Lanka. Photo by: Silke Kohlschmitt

There are more than 30 tea producing countries in the world. In contrast to coffee and cocoa, tea is also consumed in rather vast quantities in these countries. Like cocoa, sugar, and coffee, tea is a product from colonial times, and the plantations in India, Sri Lanka, and East Africa are typical leftovers from the British Empire. In these countries, tea still represents an important good for export and foreign exchange. It is usually grown on plantations and not by small farm cooperatives.

Fairtrade Certification for tea means that:

  • The garden where the tea is grown meets specific criteria for the wages, living situation, and working conditions of its pickers.
  • The tea is directly purchased from the plantation or co-operative.
  • The price paid for Fairtrade tea should cover the production costs in addition to a Fairtrade Premium of 50 cents to US$1 per kilo on top of the market price.
  • For every tea purchase, this Fairtrade Premium goes directly back to the tea pickers themselves. For plantations, a committee called a Joint Body, elected by the workers, decides how these funds will be used to meet the community's needs. Both tea cooperatives and plantations have used the Fairtrade Premiums to hire school teachers, build maternal health clinics, and bring electricity to their villages, among other projects.

Sales volumes of Fairtrade Tea (in Metric Tonnes)

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Austria

7

8

8

8

10

14

Belgium

1

2

4

5

20

Canada

2

4

6

7

14

20

Denmark

28

22

7

11

9

6

Finland

4

5

5

7

8

11

France

12

31

52

109

181

279

Germany

169

155

157

155

155

163

UK

651

806

1.089

1.421

1.854

2.839

Ireland

1

1

11

37

53

90

Italy

38

42

10

9

10

8

Japan

12

8

9

10

7

11

Luxemburg

1

1

1

1

1

1

Netherlands

77

67

60

57

59

57

Norway

1

2

3

3

4

5

Sweden

15

17

14

12

12

18

Switzerland

41

42

37

35

35

33

USA

25

55

52

79

188

286

Australia/New Zealand

9

24

Spain

2

TOTAL

1.085

1.266

1.523

1.965

2.614

3.887

Where are the Fairtrade Tea Producers?

At the end of 2006, FLO International worked with 79 tea producer organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. If you want to find out where the Fairtrade Certified Tea Producers are located, please check the database available on the FLO-CERT website.

Click on the links below to read some tea producer profiles:

Producer Profile DaZhanShan, China (147 kB)

Producer Profile Putharjhora, India (113 kB)