Jafza based Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), a division of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), has posted more than 60 per cent increase in its tea trade in the first half of the year.

The total tea trade through the centre reached 4.2 million kilos which is an increase of 1.6 million kilos over the total volume of tea (2.6 million kilos) it handled during the same period last year. In 2008, 5.92 million kilos of tea was traded through the Dubai Tea Trading Centre.

“With the new state-of-the art facility in Jafza, we expect to maintain this growth momentum across the year,” said Sanjay Sethi, DTTC chief commenting on the prospects of tea trade through the centre.

The 24,000 sqm DTTC facility, formally opened in March this year in Jafza, comprises a 6,000 sqm racked warehouse offering dedicated storage facility to tea manufacturers and traders, a temperature controlled blending, packaging and tea-tasting facility and a dedicated office block to provide office facilities to its members. DTTC members include tea producers, exporters, regional importers, and international tea merchants.

“The centre has the capacity to store over 5,000 metric tonnes of bulk teas at any time. We will also have the capacity to blend about 30,000 metric tonnes CTC teas in a year,” Sanjay Sethi said. The DTTC facility will be in a position to pack 3,000 metric tonnes of tea in tea bags and about 11,000 metric tonnes of loose tea in retail formats annually.

DTTC currently stocks teas from 13 producing countries viz. India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Nepal, China and Iran to enable the respective producers and merchants to meet the immediate requirements of the importers in the Middle East and other adjacent regions.

“We also facilitate networking opportunities between buyers from the GCC countries, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the CIS countries and the tea merchants from the producing countries,' Sethi said.

'To further enhance tea trade in and through Jafza and Dubai we are planning to expand our service reach to other Middle Eastern and European countries,' Sethi added.

“We have already seen strong interest from international traders to join the DTTC community.  The rapidly growing DTTC member base is sure to provide a major boost to Jafza and Dubai’s status as a major tea trading centre in the Middle East,” he stated.

The Middle East and the neighbouring countries in the region account for approximately 25 per cent of global tea imports. Dubai, with its strategic location between the world’s leading tea producing and consumer markets and its world class economic infrastructure and logistics capabilities, is perfectly positioned to become an important hub for international tea trade.

Keeping the promising opportunities in view DMCC, in late 2004, conceived and formed Dubai Tea Trading Centre as an efficient platform to bring tea producers, merchants and buyers at one place to conduct tea trade in the region.

Dubai’s total tea trade in 2008 has grown to reach 148.6 million tonnes from 144.6 million in 2007.-TradeArabia News Service