India’s tea exports hit record high in 2025 as Iran, Iraq buy more | Industry News

India’s tea exports have climbed to their highest levels, supported by strong buying from Iran and Iraq, alongside a pick-up in demand from China.

Provisional data from the Tea Board of India shows that in 2025 (January-December), India exported 280.40 million kg, up from 256.17 million kg in the same period last year. Export earnings at Rs 8,488.43 crore were also higher than Rs 7,167.41 crore in January-December 2024.

Country-wise export data sourced from the industry shows a sharp jump in offtake from the UAE, Iraq and China, while Russia and the US saw a drop.

C Murugan, deputy chairperson of the Tea Board, told Business Standard, “This is the highest level of tea exports recorded by India, and exporters deserve credit for this achievement.”

Mohit Agarwal, director, Asian Tea Company, said Indian tea exports touched an all-time high of 280 million kg. “Led by the Tea Board, merchant exporters took calculated risks by penetrating into the Middle East markets — Iran, Iraq and Turkey — even though the political situation remained volatile.”

The gain has been in orthodox exports, while CTC exports remained stagnant, Agarwal said. “Assam orthodox was key to this growth.”

Data shows exports to Iraq were at 52.59 million kg during January-December 2025 compared to 40.47 million kg in the same period of 2024. Exports to the UAE increased to 50.71 million kg in 2025 from 43.48 million kg in the previous year.

Iran was at 11.25 million kg in 2025 as against 9.25 million kg in 2024. However, most teas to Iran are routed through the UAE, a major re-export hub.

The major surprise was China. Indian tea exports during January-December 2025 stood at 16.13 million kg compared to 6.24 million kg in the same period of 2024.

Murugan explained that when the US imposed reciprocal and punitive tariffs, exporters were urged to tap non-traditional markets. “The decline in the US was more than offset by China. Exporters did their research, identified China as an opportunity, and the Chinese embassy was highly proactive.”

Exports to the US were at 15.21 million kg in 2025 as against 17.14 million kg during January-December 2024.

“Even now we are getting a lot of enquiries from China. We will do promotional activities there because it has a huge potential especially for orthodox tea. We will also urge the small growers to switch to orthodox production from CTC,” Murugan said.

The India-US trade deal also has the potential to significantly lift export volumes. The Trump administration’s decision to exempt food items in November included tea, but there were disruptions for a few months.

Anshuman Kanoria, chairman of the Indian Tea Exporters Association, said, “We welcome the historic India-US trade deal as it has removed uncertainty among buyers, opening up fresh opportunities for long-term contracts and sustained growth in tea exports.”

Murugan said the India-US trade deal gives access to a big and high-priced market. “There is a growing demand for Indian tea in the US.” Afghanistan and North African countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt are also on the Tea Board’s radar for market development.

According to Kanoria, “If the payment situation for Iran becomes more favourable, and with promotion and compliance support from the government, we can comfortably scale tea exports up to 300 million kg.”

*provisional