Tea Biz News and Insight - March 11, 2022

HEAR THE HEADLINES – Beverage Multinationals Suspend Operations in Russia | Once Unleashed, Sanctions Have an Unpredictable Bite | Extreme Winter Transitions to a Gentle Spring  

| NEWSMAKER – Ian Gibbs, chairman since 2016 of the International Tea Committee  

| FEATURES – This week, Tea Biz travels to the UK offices of the International Tea Committee, where Chairman Ian Gibbs describes several immediate and possibly long-term impacts on the global tea trade - stemming from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.  

Payment Concerns Further Disrupt Tea Supply Chain – During a period of upheaval caused by the pandemic, the tea industry’s newest worries include guaranteeing payment for containers of tea without violating sanctions while booking scarce carriers for shipments to the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

As the ruble’s value collapsed, Russian tea buyers accustomed to favorable credit terms now find it difficult to secure the financing needed to pay upfront, according to Ian Gibbs, chairman since 2016 of the International Tea Committee (ITC). Gibbs predicts a dip – but not a significant drop in the volume of tea shipped to the world’s third most valuable tea market. In 2020 the Russian Federation imported 142,000 metric tons of tea valued at more than $400 million and produced 4,000 metric tons of its tea, grown in Southern Russia along the coast of the Black Sea near Sochi.

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