Chinatea gathers strength as a wide variety of products refresh 64 economies

Every wholesale market in Algeria will likely stock at least some quantity of green tea produced by Chinatea, a subsidiary of COFCO Group. Algerians love the taste from China, and the company's products are a safe bet for any profit-minded merchant.

Small wonder, Chinatea has already carved up a nearly 13-percent share of the local market, with its green tea products alone selling about 2,000 metric tons worth $5 million in Algeria last year.

Founded in 1949, Chinatea is also famous for its black tea, oolong tea, scented tea, white tea, and Pu'er tea: Its products are exported to 64 countries and regions across Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, and sold through a global network of 35,000 retailers.

"The company's go-global strategy can be traced back to 1949. Back then, it was in charge of tea exports for the whole country. From 1992, tea product exports gradually transformed from raw tea material to branded tea products, which became competitive in the overseas markets," said a Chinatea executive.

Since the 1980s, Chinatea's products have been prized gifts of the nation offered to visiting dignitaries as well as luminaries overseas during official visits of China's top leaders.

For instance, in 1986, Chinatea products were presented to Queen Elizabeth-II of the United Kingdom as a national gift. Similarly, in 2007, its products were sent out to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2014, Chinatea's products were designated the official tea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Its products were also used by the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the BRICS Summit, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, the China International Import Expo, among other high-profile events.

Yu Lu, deputy head of the China Chamber of Commerce of Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products, said: "Currently, China is the third-largest country for tea exports. In 2018, China's total tea exports reached $1.78 billion, taking up 2.24 percent of the total agricultural product exports. From 2014 to 2018, the compound annual growth rate of tea exports was 4.9 percent."

According to Chinatea, in recent years, its subsidiaries such as Chinatea Hunan in Central China, Chinatea Fujian in East China, Chinatea Xiamen in East China, Chinatea Yunnan in Southwest China, and Chinatea Guangxi in South China, have been developing overseas business in close cooperation, and the current annual foreign exchange earnings surpassed 200 million yuan ($28.7 million).

According to the company, one of the reasons for the company's success overseas is that it has a good industry chain covering all aspects, from sourcing to production, manufacturing, supply, distribution, and service.

Take Safinet E'sahraa, an export tea brand of Chinatea. Its raw materials come from the high-quality tea gardens, which lie at 500 meters above sea level.

During the manufacturing process, tea leaves are checked every hour, and data thereof is maintained in records. The packaged tea products are numbered so that every step of the production process can be traced, to ensure quality.