March i, 1898.] THE TROPICAL 
CEYLON TEA IN RUSSIA, 
MR. T. N. CHRISTIES REPORT. 
We have received the follo'vina' from Mr. A.^ 
Philip, Secretary to the Ceylon Planters 
Association : — 
REPORT ON A VISIT TO RUSSIA IN CONNECTION 
WITH THE PROSPECTS OF CEYLON TEA 
THERE. 
During niy trip to Russia, which occupied 
four weeks, I visited St. Petersimrg, Moscow, 
Kief and Odessa, and I gathered much in- 
formation on the subject of my mission both from 
wholesale and retail dealers, as well as from 
other sources. 
My inquiries were much facilitated, and iny 
trip rendered pleasant, by the efficient services 
of Mr. C. H. Mackie (Proconsul in the Consul 
General’s Office, St. Petersburg) in the position 
of Secretary and Interpreter to Her Majesty s 
Consul-General in St. Petersburg (Mr. J. Michell), 
Consul in Moscow (Mr. A. T. Medhurst), Con- 
sul-General in Odessa (Colonel-Stewart, C.M.G.) 
and Vice-Consul (Mr. H. G. Mackie) in Odessa, 
all interested themselves greatly in my enquiries 
and rendered me mucli assistance. Colonel 
Stewart, I may mention, was especially in- 
terested in Ceylon, being tlie son of a former 
Civilian and having been born in the island. 
He is likewise an old friend of H.E. the 
Governor. 
The Russian tea market is one on which 
Ceylon has cast longing e,yes for some years 
past, but it is well at the outset to understand 
that with one exception — a very important one 
it is true — there a^'e no facts which make it at 
all attractive. The one attraction to us is the 
fact that Russia consumes in the aggregate a 
large quantity of tea — that there is still a 
world for us to conquer — but the consumption 
per head (for a tea drinking country — is miser- 
able, the area of territory over which this con- 
sumption is spread is vast, and the conditions 
under which the trade is carried on are, one 
and all adverse to an increase of consump- 
tion and to a rapid change in the channels of 
supply. 
In explaining these adverse features, it may 
be well to point out tliat they are not dis- 
couraging opinions of my owm, but facts, the 
clear knowledge and recognition of which may 
save individual disappointment and the expendi- 
ture of public money in directions unsuited to 
the conditions we have to deal wdth. 
IMPORTATION AND CONSUMPTION OF TEA IN 
RUSSIA. 
The consumption of tea in Russia (excluding 
Finland) last year (1896 was about 52,000,000 lb 
of leaf teas and 40,000,000 lb of brick and slab 
teas, while the population by the census of 28th 
January, 1897, is shown to be 126,683,000. There 
was also an importation of green tea, but it is ex- 
cluded in the official summary of imports, and 
seems to have been almost entirely re-exported to 
Asia. Finland, with a population of 2,527,000 im- 
ported 179,000 lb, and tlieimport duty there is about 
20 per cent, less than in Russia. From the table 
A. included in my annexures, it will be seen that 
the importation at the Black Sea frontier Inas dur- 
ing the last 10 years steadily and largely increased, 
while that at the Russo- Prussian frontier has pro- 
portionately diminished. I’he meaning of this 
IS that the business in China tea for Russia, 
at one time to a great extent done in London, 
is nov\ done by direct shipments from China to 
Russia in the Volunteer fleet steamer. That 
AGRiCULTDRISt. 615 
the import across the Russo-Prussian frontier has 
not been killed altogether, and has indeed slightly 
gone up of late, is due to the increasing im- 
portation of Ceylon tea from London via Konigs- 
berg. Although it was natural that there should 
have been a tendency towards direct ship- 
ments betw'een China and the Black Sea, 
the change in that direction has been much 
accelerated by the establishment of differential 
railway rates on goods from Odessa to the In- 
terior. Tea arriving in Russian ships is taken 
to Moscow for 92 kopecks per pood, while that 
arriving in English or other foreign ships is charged 
1 rouble 20 kopecks per pood. This differential 
rate happens to act in favor of Ceylon as against 
India, owing to the fact that the Volunteer boats 
call at Colombo, but it is none the less unfair and in 
contravention of the most favored nation clauses of 
our treaty wdth Russia — see Articles IV. and V. 
of that treaty, Annexure E. From the figures 
given in my .4nnexure C. it will be seen that 
the importation at Irkutsk of China tea by the 
overland route has been well maintained during 
the last 3 years, and that, including brick tea, 
some 64 per cent of Russia’s total consumption 
crosses the Chinese frontier, but of the leaf teas, 
which form our principal interest, less than 38 
per cent adheres to that route. 
I was surprised to find that in addition to there 
being, naturally enough, lower scales of duty on 
brick and slab teas, two r.ates of duty on leaf 
tea are in force. Tea crossing the Chinese frontier 
is charged a duty of, say. Is 2d per English lb. 
while tea entering at the European frontier is 
charged, say. Is lO^d per English lb. As Britain 
has no access to the Russo-Chinese frontier this 
is practically a differential duty and a breach of 
our treaty of Commerce- -see Article II of that 
treaty, Annexure E. 
When one hears of the time occupied in bring- 
ing tea overland, one wonders that any tea for 
ivestern and southern Russia should continue to 
come by land. It is generally 8 months on the 
way, often unheard-of, and its whereabouts un- 
known for 3 or 4 months, and the wholesale im- 
porter has to find the money for its purchase 
nearly a year in advance of its sale by him. The 
expense of the land route is about .3J kopecks 
per pound more than that of the sea route but 
the difference in duty is about 33^ kopecks per lb. 
in favour of the former, and so the trade con- 
tinues. Much of the tea, I was told, already 
reaches the new Siberian railway at or east of 
Tomsk, and the further extension of that Rail- 
way will alter many of the conditions of the 
overland trade. Ceylon tea chiefly enters Russia 
through the Russo-Prussian frontier, but the sup- 
ply for St. Petersburg goes direct by the Baltic 
except in winter, and the shipments to Odessa 
both from Ceylon and London supply the southern 
demand and to a small extent Moscow, etc. It 
is not possible to find out how much Ceylon tea 
enters Russia, as the English returns cannot dis- 
criminate whether tea shipped to Germany is- for 
consumption there or for transit, and the Russian 
returns caniiot discriminate between Ceylon 
Indian or China tea coming through European 
ports. ° 
I believe the consumption of Ceylon tea was 
close on four million pounds in 1896,' and I would 
expect, from all I lieanl, that that quantity was 
considerably increased in 1897. I found that 
opinions varied as to the relative advantages of 
direct as against London shipments, but as yet a 
large majority of importers prefer the latter, and 
my opinion is that for the Moscow and Northern 
