44 
THE TROPICAL A.GRICULTUEIST. [July 1, 1902. 
THE CONSUMPTION OF TEA. 
{From the second number of a Board of 1 rade 
memorandum.) 
TEA. 
The first thing that strikes one in glancing at 
these tables is the enormous extent to which the 
tea industry is dependent upon the United King- 
dom, and in particular how vital this market is to 
the tea industries of India and Ceylon. The tea 
that John Bull and his family drinks is mostly and 
increasingly grown under the protection of the 
Union Jack. We take a smaller quantity rela- 
tively every year from China. To put the matter 
in a nutshell, the total consumption of tea in the 
United Kingdom exceeds that of all the other 
European countries and the United States put 
together. During the seventeen years from 1884 
to 1900 it has risen from 175 million lb to 250 
millions, an increase of 43 per cent. To go into 
further detail, it may be added that every person 
in Great Britain and Ireland, counting each cente- 
narian and baby in arms, the upper tenth and "the 
submerged tenth," consumes annually over 6 lb of 
tea, an increase of 1 lb in sixteen years. 
Of a total world's production of about 600 
million lb in 190O, nearly half was taken by this 
country, while of the actual Indian export great 
Britain absorbed seven-eighths and of the Ceylon 
export three-quarters, comparatively little being 
re-exported. This peculiarly British preference 
for tea as against coffee extends also to the purely 
British colonies, but not to tiie kindred nation of 
the United States. 
The taste for tea can scarcely be said tobe' based 
upon climatic conditions, since it is prevalentin 
the dry, hot countries of Australasia, in Canada, 
with its severe cold and brief spells of heat, and 
in the United Kingdom with its mild and moist 
arrangement of weather The Australians, in fact, 
consume more tea per head than any other nation 
in the world, the average being as high as 10 lb 
per capita in Western Australia for 1900, whereas 
in the United Kingdom it was 6-lOlb per head. 
That the consumption of this country not 
only increases with the natural growth of 
the population, but increases also per capita, 
the average having steadily advanced, with the ex- 
ception of a single year, from under 51b per head in 
1889 to 6 171b last year, while the total consump- 
tion in the same period has risen from 185 million lb 
to 255 million lb. So great has been the expan- 
sion in tea production in India and Ceylon that 
even this enlarging market is not sufficient to cope 
therewith, and it is consequently reassuring to find 
the demand for tea slowly developing in other 
countries. Eussia is pre-eminently a tea drinker, 
but the people there are so poor that the consump- 
tion per head after years of expansion was in 1901 
under 1 lb per head. Germany and France which 
are coffee-consuming countries, show a tea eon- 
sumption of only 0'13 lb and 0 05 lb per head 
respectively. France makes practically no progress 
as a tea consumer, but in Germany the beverage 
appears to be slowly gaining ground, while in 
Holland the consumption has gradually advanced 
to 1-48 lb per head in 1900. The United States— an 
enormous potential market for tea — has so far 
exhibited no really satisfactory expansion. Last 
year the consumption per head, after a gradual 
advance since the drop caused by the imposition of 
the 10 cents duty in 1897, was only M4 lb per 
head. Still the fact that consumption has gradually 
advanced eince the duty of 5d per lb was im- 
posed; though only to the extent of 0 21 lb per 
head in four years, is encouraging so far as it goes, 
but the progress made is almost painfully slow. Un- 
fortunately the increase in tea consumption exhi- 
bited by America and some European countries 
does not necessarily mean exclusively in Indian 
tea. Russia still satisfied herself mainly with 
China tea imported over the Asiatic frontier, 
Holland takes 50 per cent of her tea from Java, 
while in the United States more than half tlie tea 
consumed is from China, and of the balance about 
two-fifths come from Japan. 
The prospect of increasing the American demand 
is for our Indian and Ceylon planters if they wish 
to secure a hold upon that great market, to 
adapt the preparation of their tea to the tastes of 
the inhabitants. The victory of Indian and Cey- 
lon over China tea is pretty well complete so far 
as the market in Great Bdtain is concerned, but 
elsewhere there is much to be done, and there 
is plenty of scope for the propaganda in favour 
of British tea, which is now being very actively 
supported. 
China, though she has sadly fallen from her 
high estate, is still the largest tea producer, sup- 
plying not only a percentage of what we require, 
but keeping her customers in Russia and in Holland 
— which favours Java also — and the United States. 
China's decline is, nevertheless remarkable, and 
apparently is almost entirely due to the falling- 
off of imports to this country. 
In the period 18S4-86 the amount of tea exported 
from China averaged 282,000,000 lb. whilst in the 
period 1898-1900 it averaged 202,000,000 lb., a 
decrease of 28 per cent. 
Meanwhile the exports of tea from the three 
other producing countries — British India, Ceylon 
and Japan — have been constantly increasing of 
late years ; in the case of British India the 
exports have doubled in thirteen years, whilst 
in the case of Ceylon the export, which is now 
nearly 150,000,0001b., was in 1884 only 2,000,000 lb. 
Though tea does not seem to vary much in 
cost to the consumer, its wholesale price is 
changing, and the tendency is in favour of the 
consumer. In 1884 the value of the tea landed 
in this country averaged ll|d. per lb. ; in 1900 
it averaged about SJd. The landing value of 
the tea imported from different countries was 
British India in 1884, ]4-12d. ; in 1900, 8-71d. 
Ceylon, 17-26d. per lb. in 1884; in 1900, 8-59d. 
China in 1884 averaged 10-59d.; 1900, 7-85d. 
In the period 1884-1900 the export value per 
lb. of Indian tea has dropped 38 per cent., of 
Ceylon tea 50 per cent., and of China tea 29 per 
cent. No wonder that our planters are anxious 
to find fresh markets. 
COFFEE. 
In respect of coffee we have the converse of 
the position as compared with tea, for Great 
Britain and her colonies are the smallest consumers 
of the former, just as they are the largest tea- 
drinkers, British coffee is a terrible production 
and it is not popular, though it is used slightly 
more today that it was. How do we compare 
Avith the rest of the world in this respect ? The 
three countries where the consumption per head 
is the largest are Holland (with an annual normal 
consumption of from 15 to 17 lb. per head), 
Belgium, and the United States, In Belgium the 
annual consumption per head may be put at about 
8J lb. and in the United States somewhat higher, 
probably over 9 lb. After these countries come 
