World Black Tea Markets: Relationships and Implications for the Global Tea Industry

Prices at world tea auctions are interlinked across different black tea markets. This study applied the cointegration approach using Engle-Granger 2-stage estimation procedures to examine the extent to which these markets are linked. We analyzed the relationships between monthly average tea auction price data from 7 selected markets from Africa and Asia and found out black teas markets are defined more from the type of manufacture. Black tea markets seem segmented between orthodox types of tea mainly exported by Sri Lanka and Cut-Tear-Curl type traded in Mombasa, Kenya. Cointegration results show that tea agribusiness firms can benefit by simultaneously adopting both modes of manufacture. The tea boards in the respective countries should promote diversification of products into other segments of the market while at the same time control quality of tea, which by default will curb oversupply.