and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— November, 1911. 473 



TEA I N 191 0-11. 



Brooke Bond & Company's Kbpoet. 



October 27, 1911. 

 Dear Sir, — The increase in the consumption 

 of tea throughout the world, which we have 

 pointed out in our annual review of the history 

 of the Tea-Trade for some years past, continues. 

 At the present time, instead of planters having 

 to sell their tea almost for anything they could 

 get and to tax themselves in order to exploit 

 new markets, as was the case from ten to five 

 years ago, the demand for British-grown tea is 

 greater than the supply and prices have been 

 paid this year for common tea which have not 

 been equalled for twenty years. The average 

 price for all tea has also risen considerably. 

 Kather more than four years ago, as we pointed 

 out in our annual letter in 1907, consumption 

 overtook supply. Prices thereupon rose and the 

 planter, after a time, began to reap some slight 

 reward for his long years of hard, almost un- 

 remunerative, toil and for his persevering 

 efforts to find new markets for his teas. Since 

 then production has continually increased, but 

 consumption has increased still faster aud is 

 now distinctly in advance of supply. We say 

 in advance of supply, rather than of pro- 

 duction, because in all probability large quan- 

 tities of tea are grown and consumed in all the 

 producing countries, particularly in China, of 

 which no record reaches the outside world. 

 The proportion borne by the various countries 

 in supplying the world's demand remains 

 much the same as last year, all of them 

 having increased their output except Ceylon. 

 By far the greatest part of the tea concerning 

 which we have reliable statistics is grown in 

 India and Ceylon, most of the rest coming from 

 China, Japan and Java. Small quantities are 

 grown also in Natal, Nyasaland, Burma, the 

 Straits Settlements, the Mauritius, Queensland, 

 the Fiji Isles, Brazil and the Caucasus, but are 

 almost entirely corsumed locally ; some also in 

 Annam, part of which is exported to France. 

 India. 



India produced a record crop during the year 

 1910-11, her exports up to May 31st, 1911, to 

 which date we have official figures, including 

 Southern India, reaching the large amount of 

 258,354,800 lb, about 4,000,000 lb more than dur- 

 ing tha preceding twelve months. It seems pro- 

 bable that when we see returns for the twelve 

 months ended September 30th, we shall find that 

 the increase is even greater, and the crop of 

 1910-11 is as much as 15,000,000 lb ahead of that 

 of 1909-10. 



The following table gives the distribution of 

 Exports from India during the last four years: — 





1910-11 



1909-10 



1908-9 



1907-8 





lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



United King 











dom 



174,100,700 



180,083,200 



168,09!, 10.) 



161,438,iO0 



Australia 



H, 595,900 



8,604, 600 



8,936,800 



10,946,200 



America 



5,600,900 



6,60^,900 



5, 00,500 



3,744,300 



Russia and 







China 



40,317,500 



30,490,5)0 



25,443,100 



27,755,600 



Other Ports 



10,478 S'-O 



10,849,500 



12,877,800 



9,837,700 



Total from 











Nth. India 210,129,800 



235,637,900 



220,851,600 



213,72?,200 



Southern 





India 



18,255,"00 



16,616,000 



15,243,100 



15,262,400 



TotaU from 











all India 



258,384,800 



252,263,900 



236,094,700 



228,984,600 



60 



Russia and China are coupled together in this 

 table, because practically all the tea sent from 

 India and Ceylon to China consists of dust and 

 sittings which are manufactured, in factories be- 

 longing to Russian firms, into "Brick " tea, for 

 consumption in Asiatic Russia. A statement ap- 

 peared in a Chinese newspaper last February to 

 the effect that the Chinese Minister of Trade 

 intended to stop the importation of foreign tea 

 into China. This would have been injurious to 

 the Indian and Ceylon planters, who are in the 

 habit of sending to Hankow overy year about 

 15, U00,000 lb of dust and sittings to the value of 

 about £400,000, It was not, however, necessary 

 for them to move in the matter, as the rumour 

 was not confirmed. It is said that the factory 

 owners protested through the Russian Ambas- 

 sador against the proposed course, and even 

 threatened to remove their factories from 

 China. The admixture of about 10 per cent 

 to i5 per cent of the strong liquoring dust 

 from India and Ceylon greatly improves 

 the "bricks" and facilitates their sale. The 

 area under tea in India has not much increased 

 during the year ; the difficulty of obtaining 

 coolies is so great that most planters now 

 devote their attention rather to increasing the 

 productive power of the existing gardens than 

 to extending their area. 



Ceylon. 



Up to the end of 1910 the total export from 

 Ceylon had fallen over ten million pounds. 

 During the early months of this year it re- 

 covered considerably, but not sufficiently to 

 bring the total nearly up to the record output 

 of 1909-10, vvhich was very little short of 

 192,000,0001b. The deficit is attributed partly 

 to the drought and partly to the greater atten- 

 tion given to rubber. Some experts think that 

 with favourable climatic conditions the output 

 of the island will remain at about the same 

 level for some years to come, for although the 

 increase in rubber planting tends to reduce 

 the area under tea, better cultivation increases 

 the yield. Also there is much high ground in 

 Ceylon very suitable for tea, where rubber can- 

 not be grown. About 60 per cent of Ceylon's 

 crop goes to the United Kingdom, the rest 

 mostly to Australia, Russia and America. There 

 is a growing opinion in Ceylon that there is au 

 excellent opportunity just now for establishing 

 a good trade with the United States in natural 

 green teas, to take the place of the coloured 

 teas formerly imported from China and Japan. 

 Ceylon has paid increasing attention to green 

 tea the last few years (a new and well equipped 

 finishing factory is now in course of erection at 

 Colombo) with the result that during the year 

 under consideration 1,500,000 lb. more of it 

 were exported from Ceylon to America than in 

 1909-10. It is expected that a good deal more 

 green tea will be made in the island during the 

 current year. The great feature of the year 

 with regard to British-grown tea, both Indian 

 and Ceylon, is the immense increase in direct 

 shipments to foreign countries, particularly to 

 Russia. Many Russian merchants who formerly 

 made their purchases in London, now buy 

 almost entirely in Calcutta and Colombo. 



