Core reading
Tea is a national drink, which can be compared with fine products. There are many famous teas in China, which have cultivated a long and profound tea culture and formed a super-large-scale market advantage. In recent years, while keeping the market demand basically stable, the tea industry in China has cultivated and expanded a number of new growth areas, with richer consumption scenarios, more products supplied, younger consumer groups, frequent new highlights in the industry, and steadily moving towards high-quality development.
According to the report released by China Tea Circulation Association, China’s domestic tea market remained stable in 2022, with a total domestic sales of 2,397,500 tons, up 4.15% year-on-year; Domestic sales totaled 339.527 billion yuan, up 8.82% year-on-year; The total output of spring tea this year is 1.4 million to 1.5 million tons, and the quality is basically stable.
What is the current situation of tea production and marketing in China? What are the new highlights in the industry? How to promote the tea industry to achieve high-quality development? The reporter conducted an interview.
The market demand is basically stable, and the consumer groups are getting younger and younger.
The winter is approaching, and the mountains are foggy, just like a painting. Walking into Hejiang Village, Caoba Town, Yucheng District, Ya ‘an City, Sichuan Province, a vivid picture of ecological livability came into view. Change the development ideas and seize the opportunity of e-commerce. Many villagers here have become network anchors and sold their organic green tea in their hometown to all parts of the country through the webcast platform.
"Our tea garden is a national standardized production base for green food raw materials and is currently in the pruning stage. Scarcity is the most precious thing. The tea harvested in Tomb-Sweeping Day is the best in tea, which is less disturbed by pests, with tender buds, delicate fragrance and beautiful taste. We are now preparing for the high yield of spring tea in the coming year. " Jie Chen, a 26-year-old tea farmer, started the live broadcast in the tea garden of Yuntai Mountain, which is at the highest altitude of 1,100 meters.
From mengding ganlu to Xinyang Maojian Tea, from West Lake Longjing to Huangshan Mao Feng, from Enshi Yulu to Fenghuang Danzong, there are many famous teas in China, which have cultivated a long and profound tea culture. "In recent years, relying on the advantages of domestic super-large-scale market, China tea industry has completed the adjustment and upgrading of consumption structure, and cultivated and expanded new growth areas such as herb tea and tea derivatives while maintaining basically stable market demand." Wang Qing, president of China Tea Circulation Association and chairman of the National Tea Standardization Technical Committee, said that the current consumption demand of tea and its related products has shown new changes due to the influence of modern life.
The consumption of traditional original leaf tea remained stable, and the consumption scenes were more abundant. Green tea, black tea, black tea and oolong tea are still consumers’ favorite categories. White tea, as a minor category among the six major teas, has achieved double-digit annual growth in recent years. With the popularity of the "national tide" culture, the "new Chinese teahouse" which inherits the traditional tea culture and pays attention to the scene experience and atmosphere creation has grown up, and tea tasting methods such as surrounding the stove have emerged.
Tea consumption groups are getting younger and younger. Under the influence of multiple factors, the acceptance of tea after 80s, 90s and even 00s continues to rise, and the younger generation of consumers demand personalized, diversified and healthy tea and related products. A number of new teabag enterprises and sugar-free packaged beverages have emerged. It is estimated that by 2025, the market scale of sugar-free tea in China will exceed 10 billion yuan.
Internet consumer demand has expanded. Online trading has become a powerful supplement to the domestic sales channels of tea. Last year, the total amount of online trading of tea in China exceeded 33 billion yuan, and the compound annual growth rate remained above 10% in the past three years. Driven by online consumer demand, major brand tea enterprises have started the e-commerce sector, and the annual tea trading volume and tea demand of major e-commerce platforms have also steadily increased. According to the data of Meituan, from January to June this year, the number of new tea houses in China exceeded 30,000. Driven by the digitalization and standardization services of the platform, the order volume of tea houses nationwide increased by 115% year-on-year, and Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Xi’ an were the top five cities in terms of order volume; Among the tea room consumers, consumers aged 35 and below account for more than half.
Wang Qing said that on the whole, there are three trends in the demand for tea products: brand, culture and emotional factors make traditional tea consumption concentrated in the middle and high end; Daily consumption tends to be more rational, and tea products with strong practicality and high cost performance are more popular with the public; The concept of health is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and promotes the growth of tea consumption demand.
Industry continues to innovate and product supply is diversified.
"Paper cups must be familiar to everyone, but cups with tea are rare. When we hold a meeting and receive customers, it is just right to use this cup to make tea. Boiling water is poured directly into the cup and can be drunk after waiting for a while, which is convenient and fast. " Recently, in the e-commerce live broadcast room of Xiaocheng Dashi Tea Co., Ltd. in Linqing City, Shandong Province, the anchor Zhang Qiu Lezheng introduced enthusiastically. In the production workshop not far from the live broadcast room, five fully automatic numerical control processing equipments are running at high speed, which can produce about 150,000 kinds of cup tea products every day.
"After market research, we found that this kind of teacup with tea leaves has been improved in design, which can make drinking tea easier. In recent years, the company has closely followed the changes in market demand, increased innovation and research and development, and launched products that are marketable. Last year, the turnover exceeded 20 million yuan. " Yan Li, general manager of the company said.
This is a vivid footnote for China’s tea industry to increase the supply-side structural reform.
"In the face of new changes in consumer demand, China tea industry is seizing market opportunities, making continuous efforts on the supply side, constantly improving effective supply capacity and level, and enhancing product richness and added value, and has built a set of mature, autonomous, controllable, safe and efficient tea industry chain supply chain." Mei Yu, vice president of China Tea Circulation Association, said.
Improve the level of modern production and promote industrial upgrading and efficiency.
Pu ‘er tea in Menghai County, Yunnan Province is famous at home and abroad. Banzhang production area in Brown Mountain is the core production area of Pu ‘er tea raw materials, and it is also an important origin of the brand products of Xiaocan Tea. While protecting ancient trees, the small pot tea company established a modern factory in Menghai, opened up all links in the industrial chain, enhanced the added value of tea products, promoted industrial efficiency and increased the income of tea farmers.
In recent years, new technologies and new energy sources have been continuously applied to tea processing equipment. Tea processing is developing in the direction of green, energy saving, safety and cleanliness. Continuous and standardized processing production lines are moving towards preliminary digital operation. Many standardized processing production lines of tea have been widely used, and the taste and hygienic quality have been improved, which effectively guarantees the continuous research and development of new flavors and new packaging.
The integration of tea tourism has also promoted the spread of tea culture.
"This year, we received research requests from the summer social practice teams of six colleges and universities. They came to the tea garden to observe the growing environment of’ Chuan’ brand green brick tea. This way of’ research+tourism’ has achieved good results." Chen Junhai, director of the Institute of Compaction Tea of Zhao Liqiao Tea Factory, Hubei Tea Group, and a "Jingchu craftsman" in Hubei Province, said. In 2022, Zhao Liqiao’s brick tea making skills were listed in the UNESCO World Intangible Heritage List.
In recent years, it has become a new means to help tea farmers increase their income by promoting tourism with tea, promoting tea with tourism, blending tea with tourism, combining health care, prolonging the tea industry chain and increasing the added value of tea products. All localities vigorously promote the high-quality, diversified and upgraded tea culture industry, dig deep into local traditional tea culture, intangible culture and red culture, create tea tourism products, and promote transformation and development.
New tea is popular and enters the daily life of the people.
"I like this’ Tianqingyu’ milk tea product very much. It is very healthy without adding essence or non-dairy creamer." Wang Wen, a consumer who tasted new milk tea, commented at Taigulixi Tea Store in Sanlitun, Chaoyang District, Beijing. Up to now, the total number of Xicha stores in China has exceeded 2,000, and it has entered over 240 cities.
In recent years, the new Chinese tea, represented by brands such as Hi Tea, Tea Baidao and Guming Tea, has been integrated into public life in various forms of health, fashion and innovation, and has become the new favorite of the market.
Ramming foundation forging long plate, moving towards high quality development
"We continue to exert our efforts in the integration of quality control, technological innovation, cultural creativity and brand building to help Shangyou Se-enriched tea brand become bigger and stronger." Chen Maolin, general manager of Jiangxi Youjiang Hongyun Tea Co., Ltd. said.
Youjiang Hongyun brand series tea is produced in Wuzhifeng, Shangyou County, Jiangxi Province. The company drives farmers to build more than 3,000 mu of selenium tea garden and uses organic tea production mode for management. This year, the company and Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences launched Gannan Alpine White Tea, which was well received by the market. Zhong Yuancai, director of the Agriculture and Rural Bureau of Shangyou County, introduced that the tea planting area in the county is 110,000 mu, with an output of 2,786 tons, and the brand value of "Shangyou Green Tea" reaches 641 million yuan.
According to the insiders, facing the future, China tea industry should continue to keep pace with the times and deepen the supply-side reform, and enhance the adaptability between supply and demand by improving the supply structure and quality. Only by realizing industrialization, scale, marketization and internationalization can China tea industry go further and further on the road of high-quality development.
Wang Qing believes that it is necessary to comprehensively and deeply explore and protect the essence and traditional skills of China tea culture and promote innovation and inheritance; Vigorously coordinate and integrate tea science and technology resources, promote the deep integration and development of Industry-University-Research, and promote the whole chain development and value promotion of tea industry; Accelerate the pace of modernization and transformation, establish a systematic and complete industrial system, and further promote new industrialization and informationization.
Accelerate standardized production and improve the efficiency of supply chain management. In March this year, the application for the national standard formulation plan of Technical Specification for Tea Supply Chain Management was approved by the National Standardization Committee. "Standardization is of great significance for improving the quality of tea, promoting the industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and promoting the modernization and upgrading of the tea industry." Du Guoyu, chairman of the small pot tea company, said.
Strengthen brand building and promote iterative upgrading of consumption. Mei Yu suggested strengthening the construction of industrial brands and supporting systems, and promoting the coordinated development of regional brands and corporate brands. We should start with improving product quality, improve the industrial supporting system, and realize the sufficient and high-quality supply of high-end enterprise brands and modern service products.
Strengthen scientific and technological support to help the industry to be stable and far-reaching. Wang Yingfeng, deputy director of Science and Technology Center of Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, said that scientific research institutes should be supported and encouraged to take the lead in "seed research"; Actively promote the transformation of innovation achievements of research institutions such as universities, and form a virtuous circle pattern of "innovation of research institutions-enterprise transformation and feedback-re-innovation of institutions such as institutes".
Cartography: Wang Zheping
People’s Daily (November 29, 2023, 07 edition)
