Tea has become a way of life in Russia. The beverage, which was first imported to Russia nearly four centuries ago at the time of Mikhail Romanov, has woven itself into the fabric of everyday Russian life.
This perception is reinforced by the findings of a recent study from consultant firm Market Advice. At the present time, tea is drunk by some 98 per cent of the Russian population, despite the growing influence of coffee.
Market Advice also identifies an increase in the domestic production of tea, and a tea packing sector in robust health. In 1998, Russian-packed tea made up between 1 and 5 per cent of the market. Today Russian-packed tea makes up a third of all tea sold.
The increase in Russian production is partly due to the introduction of customs duty for packed tea. It became more profitable for companies to import bulk tea in bales exceeding three kilograms and to pack it in the country.
As a result, major tea importers have opened packing factories across Russia. Importer Grand has three enterprises, May has built a factory in the town just outside of Moscow, Orimi Trade has a factory in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg and both Amtel and Emperatorski Chay has plants in the suburbs of Moscow.
St Petersburg-based Orimi Trade is the leading tea company in Russia company, with brand such as Princess Nuri, Princess Ghita, Princess Kandi and Princess Java. And according to market Advice over 80 per cent of respondents to a poll said that they preferred baikhovi, or loose tea.
As a rule, packeted tea is chosen by a younger population between the ages of 25 and 39, and the most popular packaged tea brands are Lipton, Ahmad, Brook Bond and Pickwick.
It is interesting to note that, among all the European countries, only Russia and Georgia have had any significant success in tea production. In the 1920s and 1930s, the best blends of Georgian and Krasnodar tea were exported all over the world. However, after the collapse of the USSR, the technology used for gathering tea crops collecting quickly fell into disrepair, and the extensive modernisation required has not been carried out.
A consequence of this has been the acute worsening of Russian tea quality and a significant reduction of the amount of Russian tea on the international market.
In the days of the USSR, domestic tea-packing factories fulfilled three main functions. These were the primary treatment of domestically cultivated tea leaves, the mixing of high quality imported tea with Russian and Georgian tea and tea-packing.
This sector was heavily subsidised by the state, which recovered up to 70 per cent of production costs.
For more information on Russian food and ingredients markets, contact Katrin Myagkova at Market Advice.