Tea Association of USA talks up RTD tea market prospects
On his visit to Sri Lanka, Joe Simrany, president of Tea Association of USA, encouraged local tea professionals to tap the continuing growth of the ready-to-drink tea market in the US. According to Simrany, the future looks bright for the bottled tea sector due to a recovering economy and relatively low penetration. For example, although North Americans consume about 85 percent of their tea over ice, the overall tea market in the country is 14 times smaller than the carbonated beverage market and 9 times smaller than bottled water market. Young people also seem to be increasingly drawn to bottled teas, which is attracting large multinationals like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, fueling further growth. In 2010, the US iced tea market experienced its fastest volume growth since 2007 with sales up 11.5% over 2009.