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The Sri Lanka Tea Board has embarked on a major promotional drive in the South East Asia in order to find new markets for value added Ceylon tea products. As a part of this programme it recently participated at two international trade fairs in the Region (1) Food and Hotel Asia in Singapore and (11) Seoul Intl: Food Fair in South Korea.

Asia's largest and most popular food and hospitality event the "Food and Hotel Asia" was held in Singapore with 2574 participating companies from 60 countries. The fair attracted a total of 33141 trade buyers of which 34% have come from overseas. Among the participant countries USA, Italy, Australia, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany and host Singapore had more than 100 companies each under their national pavilions. The Food and Hotel, Asia, is endorsed by the Singapore Trade Development Board under the approved International Fair Award due to its popularity and also the major role it plays in promoting trade in the region.

Sri Lanka Tea Board together with four tea companies namely Euroscan Exports (Pvt) Ltd, Imperial Teas (Pvt) Ltd, SKS Exports (Pvt) Ltd and Union Commodities (Pvt) Ltd participated at this fair. The participation of the tea companies were subsidized by the Tea Board. Mrs. Chandramanie Bandara, Assistant Director (Technical), of the Tea Promotion Division who accompanied the participants to Singapore and also acted as the Stand Director for the Sri Lanka tea pavilion was at hand to supervise the liquid tea sampling service as well as to disseminate useful information regarding the Sri Lanka tea industry to interested customers.

Singapore is rapidly growing in to a major international trading hub for food and beverage industry due to their excellent infrastructure and skilled work force coupled with the strategic location in Asia. The country imports about 11 - 12,000 MT of tea annually but with a population of only four million, its domestic consumption accounts for only about 25% of the total import volume and the rest is re-exported to various other markets in the region. In the year 2000 Sri Lanka exported 1141 MT of tea to Singapore but the potential exist for Ceylon Teas to have further inroads to Singapore and also utilize that transshipment hub to cater to other East Asian and Far Eastern markets.

Tea Board conducted a liquid tea service, where over 500 cups of tea were served per day during the exhibition period. A special tea tasting session was also conducted at the Tea Board stand to enable the visitors to taste 100% pure Ceylon tea which attracted many trade visitors. An information desk was also maintained at the fair to provide information on the Sri Lanka tea industry to the trade and public visitors. The four tea companies who participated at the fair were extremely satisfied with the outcome of the fair. The revenue of initial orders received for supply of value added Ceylon tea packs was approx. Rs. 20 million while a large number of trade inquiries received are being pursued by the exporters.

Launched in 1983, the Seoul Int. Food Fair is the biggest food exhibition is South Korea. This annual event is organized by Korean trade and International promotion Agency (KOTRA) under the auspices of Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. About 300 companies, from 15 countries participated at the Seoul Int. Food Fair held recently at Seoul exhibition Centre in South Korea. Australia Malaysia, USA, China and France were the main participant countries of the Seoul Food Fair. Sri Lanka Tea Board with two private sector tea companies - M/s Imperial Tea (Pvt) Ltd and Tea and Herb Co. participated at this annual event.

The Tea Board stand was formally opened by Navin Dissanayake, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries. During his visit, Deputy Minister had number of meetings with the tea trade in South Korea in order to push value added Ceylon tea branded packs in to this untapped market. The tea market mainly consists of green tea but the demand for black tea is slowly but steadily growing. Mr. Dissanayake during his discussions with the representatives of major super market chains in Korea urged them to purchase more value added tea from Sri Lanka rather than importing tea at exorbitant prices from UK, Germany and USA who are not producers of tea. The person who did all the ground work for the success of the Sri Lanka tea industry to penetrate a new markets such as South Korea was Ranjith Abeykoon, Assistant Director (Promotion), attached to the Tea Promotion Division. Fittingly, Mr. Abeykoon was physically present in Seoul as the Stand Director for the Tea Booths from Sri Lanka and arranged several important discussions for the Deputy Minister and the participants from the Sri Lanka tea trade to meet useful Korean buyers.

A liquid tea service was conducted at the Tea Board stand and samples of 25g Ceylon tea sachets were distributed free of charge among the visitors to encourage them to drink Sri Lankan tea. Ceylon tea promotional material, printed in Korean Language, were also distributed to the visitors. Both tea companies have received a large number of trade inquiries for supply of value added tea products from Sri Lanka. M/s Imperial Tea (Pvt) Ltd which has launched their IMPRA brand tea in the market from the beginning of this year was successful in their negotiations to introduce the brand into major supermarkets in Korea - Lotte, Hyundai and Samusing Plaza, which will be a major breakthrough for Ceylon tea in this market.

The blessings and the support given by Lakshman Kiriella, Minister of Plantation Industries and Navin Dissanayake, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries to the Sri Lanka Tea Board to venture into untapped tea markets is already paying rich dividends. 

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