EU to source more Darjeeling tea as new standards kick in
Buyers from the European Union are expected to increase their purchases of Darjeeling tea in 2014, following a Protected Geographic Indication status obtained in 2011. The status sets forth a Europe-wide goal of selling 100% pure Darjeeling tea by 2016, whereas until now, teas labeled as Darjeeling may have contained only 51% of leaves from Darjeeling. Given that Darjeeling tea has a shelf life of about 3 years, many of those blenders are expected to finish offloading their inventory this year and start sourcing pure Darjeeling tea for the EU market. The Darjeeling region in India produces around 9 million kilograms of tea per year, with European buyers purchasing 3-4 million kilograms of that. In 2013, the quality of tea suffered from heavy rains and political unrest in the region contributed to lower export volumes.