Plantation Crop Tea a topic of Geography 2nd year syllabus. A very precise and detailed presentation may help the learners. In this, it talks about the History, Plantation condition, distribution, varieties of Tea in the world.

1. Plantation Crops
TEA
VaibhavVerma
Student, B.A. B.Ed.
Prarambh State Institute of Advanced Studies
inTeacher Education, Jhajjar, Haryana, India
Email: vaibhavverma998@gmail.com

2. Content:
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A Brief History of Tea
World-Wide Tea Production Countries
Conditions for Yielding
World Distribution of Tea
International Trade of Tea

3. A Brief History of Tea
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The origin of tea is in China, where the earliest
use of tea is mentioned in Chinese literature of
350 AD.
According to legend, the Chinese emperor
Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his
servant boiled drinking water, when some
leaves from the tree blew into the water.
The tree was a Camellia Sinensis, and the
resulting drink was what we now call Tea.

4. A Brief History of Tea in India
The story of Tea cultivation in India starts from 1774, when Warren
Hastings sent a selection of China seeds to George Bogle, the then
British emissary in Bhutan for planting the same in Bhutan. This
experiment could not produce any substantial results.
In 1780, Robert Kyd experimented with tea cultivation in India
with seeds, the consignment of which was stated to have arrived
from China.
Robert Bruce in 1823 discovered tea plants growing wild in Upper
Brahmaputra valley.
In May 1838 the first Indian tea from Assam was sent to England
for public sale.
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5. TEA
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Tea is the most popular beverage of the world and it is the
national drink of the countries like China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan,
Russia and UK.
Tea is an evergreen shrub plant native to sub-tropical Asia and it
is grown widely in both sub-tropical and tropical areas.
Tea is a major cash crop and the most important beverage in
modern society. Its leaves are dried and cured.
Drinking tea energizes due to a element named Theine in it.

6. TEA
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Coffee is the nearest rival of Tea. Tea leaves (un-brewed) contain
more than twice the amount of caffeine found in coffee beans by
weight. Therefore, tea is a major source of base product for
medicinal caffeine.
Female workers are engaged for the plucking work at tea
estates. The leaves are processed at factories on the estates to
produce two types of tea.

7. TEA
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The tea leaves that are completely processed (i.e. withered,
fermented and fired) form black tea. This type of tea forms the
bulk of tea entering world trade.
The other type of tea is green tea. It is produced when withered
leaves undergo steaming or scalding to prevent fermentation.
This type of tea is more popular in China and Japan.

8. Types of Tea
Types
Green
tea
Black
tea
Herbal
tea
Oolong
White
tea
Fermented
tea
Yellow
tea
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9. World-Wide Tea Production Countries
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Argentina Chile India Montenegro Portugal Turkey
Australia China Indonesia Mozambique Russia Uganda
Azerbaijan Colombia Iran Myanmar Rwanda United Kingdom
Bangladesh Congo Japan Nepal Seychelles United States
Bhutan Ecuador Kenya New Zealand South Africa Vietnam
Bolivia El Salvador Laos Nigeria South Korea Zambia
Brazil Ethiopia Madagascar North Korea Sri Lanka Zimbabwe
Burundi France Malawi Pakistan Taiwan
Canada Georgia Malaysia Panama Tanzania
Cambodia Germany Mali Papua New
Guinea
Tasmania
Cameroon Guatemala Mauritius Peru Thailand

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11. Conditions for Yielding
Tea is a warm and subtropical vegetable plant.
For this, hot and humid climate is required.
The tea plant can be grown from 43° northern
latitude to 27° southern latitude and up to
2,450 meters above sea level.
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12. Temperature
Temperature of 25° C to 30° C is generally required for tea
cultivation.
It grows best in areas with temperature ranging between 12° and
35° C
The sunny weather is suitable for this and frost is harmful. For
this reason, tea cultivation in cold countries is very less.
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13. Rain
Tea is a water loving plant it should receive a rainfall of 125 to
250 cm annually.
Rainfall should be distributed evenly throughout the year for
continued growth of the leaves. Rain showers, dew and haze are
favourable for tea.
Humidity should also be high promoting leaf formation.
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14. Soil
Tea cultivation requires deep, well-drained, fertile soil.
The soil should have sufficient amount of phosphorus, potash,
iron and humus.
Tea soil has strong properties, but contains calcium carbonate.
Ammonium sulphate, bone manure and green manure should be
used from time to time.
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15. Surface
Although heavy rainfall is favourable for tea, Stagnant water is
highly injurious to the root system of the plant.
The roots of the plant are tarnished, so tea is cultivated on the
mountain slopes.
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16. Labor
Cheap and skilled labour is required for many tasks related to tea
cultivation.
Although all the tea processing on large orchards are easily done
by machines called Crushing, Tearing and Curling.
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17. World Distribution of Tea
A wealth of data was displayed during the 23rd Plenary Session
of the United Nations FAO Inter Governmental Group (IGG) Tea
in May 2018, in Hangzhou, China and more statistics have
become available since the International Tea Committee issued
its Annual Bulletin of Statistics in October 2018.
World tea production has increased at an average annual growth
rate of 4.4 percent over the past decade to reach 5.812 million
tonnes in 2017. The major tea producing countries are China,
India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, Myanmar,
Iran, Bangladesh etc.
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18. The World's Top 10 Tea Producing Countries
Rank Country Tea Produced (Tonnes)
1 China 2,473,443
2 India 1,325,050
3 Kenya 439,857
4 Sri Lanka 349,699
5 Vietnam 260,000
6 Turkey 234,000
7 Indonesia 139,362
8 Myanmar 104,743
9 Iran 100,580
10 Bangladesh 81,850
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19. CHINA
China is the #1 largest producer of tea in the world, at 2,473,443
tonnes.
And also has the most land devoted to tea growing, at 2,224,261
hectares.
China is the birthplace of specialty tea and the diversity of tea styles
produced there is unparalleled.
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20. CHINA
The main tea growing areas are located around the Chiang Jiang
Basin.
It is a hilly region, where tea is grown in small-sized fields.
Small and poor farmers cultivate tea in their spare time on hill
slopes where other crops cannot be grown.
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21. CHINA
The top 5 growing regions, ranked by tea production, are:
 Fujian Province
 Yunnan Province
 Hubei Province
 Sichuan Province
 Hunan Province
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23. INDIA
India is world’s second largest tea producer after China at
1,325,050 tonnes and second in terms of land devoted to tea
growing as well, with 621,610 hectares.
Much of India’s tea production is concentrated in the areas of
Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Dooars, and Assam, which is the single largest
tea growing region in the world.
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24. INDIA
The top 5 growing states in India, ranked by production, are:
 Assam
 West Bengal
 Tamil Nadu
 Kerala
 Karnataka
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26. KENYA
Kenya is in the top five, being the #3 producer of tea in the world at
439,857 tonnes.
And #4 in area, with 218,538 hectares of tea land.
In this country, tea is produced on high and humid plateau areas in
areas like Kairochi, Liou and Mount Kenya.
Tea is exported from Mombasa port.
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27. SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka is the #4 largest producer of tea in the world at 349,699
tonnes, and #3 in terms of area, with 233,909 hectares of tea land.
They grow tea all over the island, but mostly around the Southern
mountain ranges.
The Sri Lanka Tea Board holds trademarks for the following growing
regions: Sabaragamuwa, Nuwara-Eliya, Dimbula, Ruhuna, Uva,
Uda Pussellawa, and Kandy.
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28. VIETNAM
Vietnam is the #5 largest producer of tea in the world at 260,000
tonnes.
And also #5 in terms of area, with 123,188 hectares of tea land.
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29. TURKEY
Turkey is the 6th largest producer of tea in the world at 234,000
tonnes.
And 8th in area, with 82,108 hectares of tea land.
Turkey’s tea production is concentrated in and around Rize
Province.
Most of the tea plantations in Turkey are located on the mountain
slopes adjacent to the Black Sea coast.
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30. INDONESIA
Indonesia is the 7th largest producer of tea in the world at 139,362
tonnes.
And the 6th in terms of area, with 113,692 hectares of tea farms.
Tea plantations in Indonesia are mainly found in two islands called
Java and Sumatra which are situated at an altitude of 500 to 1500
meters.
The black soil of lava obtained on volcanic eruption in Java is very
favorable for tea cultivation.
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31. MYANMAR
Myanmar is the 8th largest producer of tea in the world at 104,743
tonnes.
And 7th in area, with 88,806 hectares of tea land.
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32. IRAN
Iran is the 9th largest producer of tea in the world, with 100,580
tonnes.
And the 17th in terms of area, with 15,848 hectares of tea farms.
Currently, due to US sanctions, it’s not possible to buy Iranian tea.
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33. BANGALDESH
Bangladesh is the 10th largest producer of tea in the world, at
81,850 tonnes
And 9th in terms of area, with 53,856 hectares of tea farms.
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34. JAPAN
Japan is the 11th largest producer of tea in the world at 81,119
tonnes.
And 10th in the world in terms of area, with 43,245 hectares of tea
land.
Much of Japan’s production is green tea and machine-harvested
and uniform in appearance.
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35. JAPAN
The top 5 growing Prefectures, ranked by tea production, are:
Shizuoka Prefecture
Kagoshima Prefecture
Mie Prefecture
Miyazaki Prefecture
Kyoto Prefecture
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37. International trade of tea
The monsoon countries produce most of the tea, whereas there is less
consumption of tea. In contrast, tea is not produced in temperate
developed countries, but there is a lot of tea consumption.
Global sales from tea exports by country totaled an estimated US$6.4
billion in 2019.
The value of worldwide tea exports fell by an average -12.8% for all
exporting countries since 2015 when tea shipments were valued at $7.3
billion. Year over year, global tea exports depreciated -18.8% from 2018
to 2019.
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38. International trade of tea
Among continents, Asian countries sold the highest dollar worth of
exported tea during 2019 with shipments valued at $4.5 billion
exceeding two-thirds (69.9%) of the global total.
In second place were exporters in Europe at 16.8% while 9.1% of
overall tea shipments originated from Africa.
Tinier percentages of globally exported tea came from North America
(2.5%), Latin America (1.6%) excluding Mexico but including the
Caribbean, then Oceania (0.2%) led by Australia.
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39. International trade of tea
These are
the 15
countries
that
exported
the
highest
dollar
value
worth of
tea during
2019.
China: US$2 billion (31.8% of total tea exports)
India: $803 million (12.6%)
Sri Lanka: $721.3 million (11.3%)
Kenya: $360.9 million (5.7%)
Poland: $255.2 million (4%)
Germany: $244.1 million (3.8%)
United Arab Emirates: $161.8 million (2.5%)
United Kingdom: $138.2 million (2.2%)
Japan: $137.1 million (2.2%)
Taiwan: $124.8 million (2%)
United States: $111.7 million (1.8%)
Russia: $102.2 million (1.6%)
Indonesia: $100.9 million (1.6%)
Vietnam: $99.4 million (1.6%)
Netherlands: $92.4 million (1.4%)
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By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 85.9% of global tea exports in 2019.

40. International trade of tea
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing tea exporters since 2015
were: Taiwan (up 131.3%), Japan (up 59.6%), Russia (up 51.4%) and
China (up 46.5%).
Five countries posted declines in their exported tea sales namely Kenya
(down -71.3%), Vietnam (down -53.2%), Sri Lanka (down -45.4%),
Indonesia (down -20%) and United Kingdom (down -6.2%).
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41. Tea Exporting Companies
AkbarTea (Sri Lanka)
BigelowTea Company
(United States)
Douwe Egberts aka
Pickwick (Netherlands)
George Steuart Group
(Sri Lanka)
HaradaTea Processing
(Japan)
LancashireTea (United
Kingdom)
Red RoseTea (United
States)
SaladaTea (United
States)
Teekanne (Germany)
Ten Fu Group (China)
Tetley –Tata Global
Beverages (India)
Twinings (United
Kingdom)
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