Dubai Tea Trading Centre posts more than 60 per cent growth

Dubai: 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 square metre DTTC facility, formally opened in March this year in Jafza, comprises a 6,000 square metre 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. The 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.