KARAMEHMETOĞLU: WE RANK FIFTH IN TEA PRODUCTION BUT TEA IMPORTS INCREASING

China ranks first in world tea production with 2.27 million tons, India comes second with 1.21 million tons and then Kenya third with 475 thousand tons, Sri Lanka fourth with 329 thousand tons. 
Turkey ranks fifth with 260 thousand tons...

Tea production in Turkey mostly made on the coast of Black Sea in Rize, Trabzon, Giresun and Artvin provinces.

According to data of the Tea Specialized Customs in Rize, where 65 percent of the production in the region is made and identified with tea, 17 thousand 260 tons of dry tea were imported last year. With this number, Rize ranked first among the provinces ranking that imports the most tea. Meanwhile high numbers of dry tea imports, of which 47 million dollars went abroad, also worried tea producers.

Nuriye Terzi, one of the producers, said, "Our tea is enough for us, why does imported tea come from foreign countries? We have very special, organic tea, this tea is more than enough for us. Why do they not drink our tea that we produce and collect with great effort?"

Another producer Mehmet Çelik said, "We do not want tea to come from outside. While we are trying to promote and export our own tea, we cannot understand the import of tea in these lands where tea is produced."

Karamehmetoğlu: Not a pleasant situation, we should be more sensitive 

Şaban Aziz Karamehmetoğlu, Chairman of Rize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that tea is among Rize's main import input items and as traders and industrialists, they should pay more attention to this situation in the capital of tea. Karamehmetoğlu also emphasized, "These figures are the data given to us from the Rize Tea Specialized Customs. Imported teas go to every part of Turkey. Unfortunately, this tea trend is increasing."

"Actually this is not a pleasant situation, we should be more sensitive about this issue.
Imported teas are mixed tea bags and mixed teas used in coffee shops. In order to prevent this import, we must produce teas of that quality. These tea imports are made not only from Rize but from all over the country. As the Tea Specialized Customs is located in Rize, these teas have to come here. These imports are official imports. The importer deposits the necessary taxes and takes the product, after this stage, we cannot ask 'why are you importing tea?' The main thing here is to appreciate our own tea and increase the techniques of marketing our tea," he added...