current outlook of japanese tea - maff.go.jp

Current Outlook of Japanese Tea

December 2020

1. Characteristics of tea production in Japan …............................................................................. 1

2. Outlook of tea production ………..................................................................................................... 3

3. Outlook of crude tea price ............................................................................................................... 4

4. Outlook of consumption / demand of tea ................................................................................ 5

5. Change in consumer market ………................................................................................................. 6

6. Current situation of tea producing regions (1) …..…............................................................... 7

7. Current situation of tea producing regions (2) ..……............................................................... 8

8. Efforts for improving productivity (Promotion of smart agriculture) ..…………............. 9

9. Outlook of tea import / export ….…............................................................................................ 10

10. Results of tea export …………......................................................................................................... 11

11. Export of organic tea …..…………………………………………………............................................... 12

12. Development of new basic policy concerning promotion of tea industry and

tea culture ……………......................................................................................................................... 14

[ I n d e x ]

機密性○情報 ○○限り

○ Tea undergoes the following processes before being sold on the market: (i) harvesting fresh leaf, (ii) processing fresh

leaf into crude tea in tea-growing regions, and (iii) blending crude tea into final processed tea (refined tea) in tea

consumption regions. The industrial scale of crude tea is about JPY100 billion.○ Major tea-growing regions are: (1) Shizuoka, (2) Kagoshima, (3) Mie, (4) Kyoto and (5) Fukuoka. The top-three

prefectures constitute about 70% of the total tea-growing acreage in Japan.○ Tea production in each prefecture has different characteristics, for example, Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Miyazaki mainly

produce "Sencha," Mie and Fukuoka "Kabusecha," Saga and Kumamoto "Tama-ryokucha," and Kyoto "Gyokuro" and

"Matcha."

Crude tea

Refined

tea

(Seicha)

Tea for

drinking

Steaming/rolling/Drying

Blending several types of crude tea produced in

different regions

Fresh leaf

JPY97.2 billionSource: 2018 Statistics of Agricultural Income

○ Main tea-producing prefectures and characteristics of production

1. Characteristics of tea production in Japan

Crude tea (non-trimmed

tea leaf, before removing

stems)

Refined tea (trimmed tea,

after removing stems)

1

RankPrefecture

name

Growing

Acreage

(in ha)

Production

volume

(in tons)

Characteristics of production

1 Shizuoka 15,900 29,500Mainly produces Sencha (in particular,

deep-steamed Sencha)

2 Kagoshima 8,400 28,000 Mainly produces various types of Sencha

3 Mie 2,780 5,910 Japan's largest producer of Kabusecha

4 Kyoto 1,560 2,900Japan's largest producer of Gyokuro and

Matcha

5 Fukuoka 1,540 1,780 Mainly produces Kabusecha

6 Miyazaki 1,380 3,510 Mainly produces Sencha

7 Kumamoto 1,220 1,270Japan's third largest producer of

Tama-ryokucha

8 Saitama 843 881 Mainly produces Sencha

9 Saga 749 1,240 Japan's largest producer of Tama-ryokucha

10 Nagasaki 737 693 Mainly produces Tama-ryokucha

11 Aichi 517 832 Mainly produces Matcha

Total 40,600 81,700

Source：MAFF "Statistics on Farmland and Crop Acreage"

Note：Ranking is based on the growing acreage surveyed prefectures in 2019.

○ Change of form of tea and industrial scale

Types Characteristics and main producing regions

Percentage of crude

tea production/crude

tea price (2019)

[Characteristics]

• Most popular type of tea.

Processed by steaming, kneading and drying new shoots.

[Main Production Regions]

• All regions in Japan

[Percentage of Production]

53.6 %

[Crude Tea Price]

JPY 1,178 / kg

[Characteristics]

• Cultivated under a sun-shielding covering made of straw or

cheesecloth under “tana” (ceiling shelf) for about 20 days before

harvesting. Processed in the same way as Sencha.


• Kyoto and Fukuoka


0.3 %

[Crude Tea Price]

JPY 4,928 / kg

[Characteristics]

• Cultivated under a sun-shielding covering made of straw or

cheesecloth for about one week before harvesting. Processed in the

same way as Sencha.


• Mie and Fukuoka


4.2 %

[Crude Tea Price]

JPY 1,462 / kg

[Characteristics]

• Cultivated under a sun-shielding covering from three weeks to one

month before harvesting (which is longer than that of Gyokuro).

Processed by drying tea leaf without kneading.

• Matcha is a powdered tea made by grinding Tencha with a stone mill.


• Kyoto, Aichi and Kagoshima


4.4 %

[Crude Tea Price]

JPY 2,498 / kg

[Characteristics]

• Unlike Sencha, a trimming process is not applied to Tama-ryokucha so

Tama-ryokucha leaf is round.


• Kumamoto, Saga and Nagasaki


2.5 %

[Crude Tea Price]

JPY 1,686 / kg

Sencha

Kabusecha

Tama-ryokucha

Tencha

(Matcha)

Gyokuro

Source：Percentage of crude tea production/crude tea price (for all crop seasons) is based on data from the Japanese Association of Tea Production.

(Reference) Types of tea

Reference：Gyokuro, Kabusecha and Tencha are collectively called "Ooicha."2

○ Change in growing acreage per commercial tea farm

in major tea-producing prefectures

2. Outlook of tea production

○ Growing acreage is declining slowly. The production volume exceeded 100,000 tons in 2004 due to the increase in

demand for green tea beverages, but in recent years it has remained around 80,000 tons.

○ Tea production per crop season, the first crop has decreased in recent years, the third crop and Autumn-winter Bancha

for reasonable drinks has been on the rise. In addition, the Tencha which is in high demand, has also been on the rise.

〇 Tea farmer's growing acreage are expanding, especially in Kagoshima Prefecture.

3

○ Change in tea growing acreage/production volume

Source：MAFF "Statistics on Agricultural Production"

(ha)

Pro

du

ctio

n v

olu

me (

in 1

,000 t

on

s)

Gro

win

g a

creag

e (in

1,0

00 h

a)

Source：Census of Agriculture and Forestry; the growing acreage of commercial tea farm

in 2010 is an estimate.

Shizuoka Kagoshima Mie Kyoto Fukuoka Miyazaki Kumamoto

2000 0.7 1.5 0.5 0.9 0.5 1.2 0.6

2005 0.8 2.1 0.9 1.1 0.8 1.7 0.8

2010 1.0 3.0 1.3 1.3 0.9 2.2 1.1

2015 1.2 3.3 1.5 1.5 1.1 2.1 1.1

101 10092 94 96

86 85 84 88 85 84 80 80 82 86 82

49 49 49 48 48 47 47 46 46 45 45 44 43 42 42 41

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Production volume Growing acreage

1,452

3,464

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

○ Change in Tencha (Matcha) production volume

Pro

du

ctio

n v

olu

me (

in t

on

s)

Source：Data from the Japanese Association of Tea Production

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

First crop

of tea32,530 31,515 30,192 32,900 29,786

Second crop

of tea20,544 20,285 20,963 22,577 20,869

Third crop

of tea5,801 6,312 7,053 6,384 5,862

Autumn-

winter Bancha18,534 20,458 22,022 22,906 22,851

Source： Data from the Japanese Association of Tea Production

○ Change in tea production volume per crop season(t)

○ Change in tea price (crude tea and regular Sencha)

(Reference) Change in price of import Chinese green tea

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

245 252 261 285 382 476 582 520 577 588 612

Unit：JPY/kg

Unit：JPY/kg

4


Source：Ministry of Finance, Trade Statistics (CIF price)

3. Outlook of crude tea price

○ Tea price was on an upward trend until 2004 due to increased demand in PET-bottle green tea

beverages; however, after 2004, slowdown in demand is pushing the crude tea price downward.

○ Tea price significantly differs depending on (i) price differences between types of tea and (ii) price

differences between crop seasons, in addition to tea quality, significant affecting tea farmers.

Ooicha SenchaBancha

Other type of green

teaGyokuro Kabusecha Tencha SenchaTama-

ryokucha

First crop of tea 4,928 1,782 3,048 1,872 2,230 693 1,077

Second crop of tea － 747 1,558 624 664 356 461

Third crop of tea －－－ 362 381 316 165

Autumn-winter Bancha

－－－ 328 221 327 342

Average for all crop

season4,928 1,462 2,498 1,178 1,686 372 574


0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

First crop of tea Second crop of tea

Third crop of tea Average for all crop seasonJPY/kg

○ Change in tea price per crop season

(Crude tea produced in 2019)

4. Outlook of consumption/demand of tea

〇 Concerning the consumption of green tea (leaf tea) has been on a declining trend and consumption of green tea beverages has been on an increasing.

○ Annual spending per household for green tea (leaf tea) and tea beverage product is decreasing for leaf tea, but the total amount is increasing because tea beverage product are increasing. Consumer has been to shift to convenient style of tea consumption, especially in the younger generation.

Source：Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Household Statistics

○ Change in consumption volume of soft drinks

1,146

791

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

6,138 5,290

3,780

4,627 5,802 7,845

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Green tea (leaf tea) Tea beverage product（JPY）

11,09210,765

11,625

From 2007, amount of expenditure

for tea beverage product exceeds

that of green tea leaf.

31.4

26.3

23.5

28.8

4.2

9.5

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

Co

nsu

mp

tio

n v

olu

me p

er

pers

on

(lit

er/

pers

on

)

Soda

Coffee Beverage

Green Tea Beverage

Mineral Water

Black Tea Beverage

Oolong Tea Beverage0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000Green Tea Tea beverage product

An

nu

al exp

en

dit

ure

per

ho

use

ho

ld(J

PY

)

Source：Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Household Statistics

Source：Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Household StatisticsSource：Japan Soft Drink Association

Age 5

○ Change in consumption volume of leaf tea per household ○ Amount of annual expenditure for green tea

leaf/tea beverage product per household

○ Consumption trends for green tea and tea

beverage product by age

(g)

26%

35%

1%

10%

4%

4%14%

6%

38%

29%1%

10%

4%

1%9%

8%一般小売店

スーパー

コンビニエンススト

ア百貨店

生協・購買

ディスカウントスト

ア通信販売

20141999

11,809

9,769

6,381

2,786 2,322

1,607

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

H14 H19 H26

General retailers including specialty tea stores were the largest source from which consumers bought

green tea in 1999, and subsequently purchase from supermarkets and others grew.

The number of establishments of tea retailers almost halved during the period between 2002 and 2014.

Tea retailers

Tea wholesalers

Nu

mb

er

of

est

ab

lish

men

ts

Purchase from

supermarkets

has increased.

Purchase by mail order has increased.

5. Change in consumer market

46% decline from 2002

Source："National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure", Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Source："Commercial Statistics", Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

2002 2007 2014

General retailers

Supermarkets

Convenience stores

Department stores

Co-ops

Discount stores

Mail order

Others

6

○ Change in the sources of green tea purchase

○ Changes in the numbers of establishments of tea retailers/wholesalers

The number of core persons mainly engaged in farming declines year after year. Farmers are increasingly aging as the percentage of those aged 65 or older increased from 49% in 2000 to 56% in 2015.

In hilly land where the use of agricultural machinery is difficult, working hours are uneven, depending on the season, and the workload is strenuous particularly in the picking season. Some regions try to spread the picking season out by introducing early-cultivar and late-cultivar varieties.

(Pers

on

s)6. Current situation of tea producing regions （1）

Source：“Census of Agriculture and Forestry”, MAFF

Shizuoka Kagoshima Mie Kyoto Fukuoka MiyazakiKumamotoAll

prefectures

2000 24,019 4,309 4,598 1,330 2,217 820 1,277 53,687

2005 17,731 3,072 2,294 1,035 1,629 642 973 37,617

2010 13,933 2,216 1,455 825 1,385 513 695 28,116

2015 9,617 1,744 967 653 980 399 529 20,144

(Households)Shizuoka Kagoshima Kyoto Aichi

All

prefectures

Yutakamidori(Early-cultivar ) 0.04 27.1 0 0.6 6.3

Saemidori(Early-cultivar ) 0.5 12.9 0.9 1.4 4.0

Sayamakaori(Somewhat early-

cultivar )1.9 0 0.8 1.9 2.1

Yabukita(Medium-cultivar) 91.1 32.8 62.0 59.8 71.5

Samidori(Medium-cultivar ) 0.03 0 8.2 18.5 0.7

Okumidori(Late-cultivar ) 0.6 4.8 11.8 11.0 3.3

Others 5.8 22.5 16.3 6.8 12.1

Total 100 100 100 100 100

Source：MAFF survey (FY2019)

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

平成12年平成17年平成22年平成27年2000 2005 2010 2015 1 3 2 7 4 7 5 3 2 4 2 1 0

5

10

15

20

1月 2月 3月 4月 5月 6月 7月 8月 9月 1 0月 1 1月 1 2月

5 4 4 6

15 13

7 4 3 3

8 5

0

5

10

15

20

1月 2月 3月 4月 5月 6月 7月 8月 9月 1 0月 1 1月 1 2月

Hilly

lan

dFla

t la

nd

s

Field size: 3ha

Working hrs. : 77 hrs. / 10a

Field size: 8ha

Working hrs. : 41 hrs. / 10a

Jan.

(Hours/10a)

Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Fir

st c

rop

of

tea

Au

tum

n-w

inte

r

Ban

cha

Seco

nd

cro

p

of

tea

Th

ird

cro

p

of

tea

Au

tum

n-w

inte

r

Ban

cha

Seco

nd

cro

p

of

tea

Fir

st c

rop

of

tea

(%)

7

○ Number of core persons mainly engaged in farming

by age group (industrial crops)

○ Seasonally uneven working hours

○ Change in number of commercial farm households

producing tea in major tea producing prefectures

○ Proportion of tea varieties produced by major production region

Around 40% of tea fields in Japan are located in hilly and mountainous areas, and some regions have

not yet to introduced riding-type machines due to slopes and other obstacles.

About 40% of trees of tea fields are aged 30 years or older, raising concern about a decline in yield and

quality. Replanting and other methods are supported but have been done in only some 8% of the total

field size.

Tea replanting has the following benefits:

• Planting young tea trees is expected to improve quality and productivity.

• Planting good cultivars makes it possible to enhance added value.

• Combining cultivars prevents concentration of harvesting and processing

work by dispersing the cropping period.

7. Current situation of tea producing regions （2）

2015(ha) Remarks

All

prefectures

Flat lands 15,532

Hilly & mountainous areas 10,276

Hilly & mountainous areas (%) 39.8

Shizuoka

Flat lands 8,570 Half of hilly & mountainous areas

have a gradient of 15 degrees or

higher*, making it difficult to

introduce riding-type machines. *As

of 1994



Kagoshima

Flat lands 3,450 The gradient is small even in hilly &

mountainous areas and the land has

been improved, so most of the

regions are suitable for riding-type

machines.



Kyoto

Flat lands 17780% of land has a gradient of 10

degrees or lower, and 6% of land has

a gradient of 15 degrees of higher.

Hilly & mountainous areas 768


Aichi

Flat lands 21680% of land has a gradient of 5

degrees or lower, and 0% of land has

a gradient of 15 degrees of higher.

Hilly & mountainous areas 66


Source：MAFF surveyNo. of units Machine-using hectares Percentage

Shizuoka pref. 3,547 10,461 65.8

Kagoshima pref. 1,413 8,192 97.5

Kyoto pref. 110 288 18.4

Aichi pref. 79 239 46.3

Total 7,026 24,508 60.4

Source：MAFF survey


0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

H23 H24 H25 H26 H27 H28 H29 H30 R1

(ha)

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019


0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

未成園～10年 11～20年 21年～30年 30年以上

(ha)

６％

13％

23％ 22％

37％

Young tea field

-10 years 11-20 years

21-30 years

30 years or older

8

○ Situation of tea-growing acreage by farming region ○ Farm acreage categorized by tree age (FY2019)

○ Use of riding-type tea picking machines (FY2019)

○ Total size of fields for which the tea replanting

support project was implemented

8. Efforts for improving productivity (Promotion of smart agriculture)

○ Since FY2019, the smart agriculture demonstration project has been launched, which aims to accelerate social

implementation of “smart agriculture” by introducing and testing advanced technologies including robots, AI,

and IoT in production sites.

○ The project for tea is underway in Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Kyoto prefectures.

Shizuoka Pref. Smart Tea Production Demonstration Consortium (Shizuoka pref.) (FY2019)

In the producing region facing serious issues of aging and labor shortage, scale expansion is necessary for maintaining the tea industry.

Accordingly, the project aims to realize a new form of tea business in large-scale tea fields through robotization of tea-field management, multipurpose utilization of field irrigation facilities, and visualization of business management.

Multipurpose sprinkler Robotized tea-field managing machine

Horiguchi Seicha Smart Demonstration Consortium (Kagoshima pref.) (FY2019)

[Testing the tea production management integrated system which is centered on labor-saving management of dispersed tea fields

and quality control of tea factories through the creation of tea field networks using LoRa]

Test field size：127ha (Chamu Chamu Land Sugeyamaen, Eco Green Katsumata, Harada Tea Processing Co., Ltd.)

Dispersed tea fields necessitate work hour increases and make it difficult to manage fresh leaves in the same manner.

For this reason, the project aims to stabilize farm management by streamlining operations through the introduction of work recording tools and other methods and enabling tea plucking at the right time for better quality through the use of AI technology to analyze tea growing stages.Work recording tool Remote sensing

Field server

AI technology to analyze tea growing stages

Drone

Centralization and visualization of information

Source：Pamphlet of the smart agriculture demonstration project 9

[Testing the large-scale smart tea business integrated system using IoT / robotization technologies]

Test field size：116ha (Kagoshima Horiguchi Seicha)

9. Outlook of tea import/export

○ Surged in 2004 due to green tea beverage materials demand, tea import turned to decline as

percentage of domestic tea increased. Recently, the import volume has been about 4,000 tons.

○ Thanks to growing enthusiasm for Japanese food and health awareness in foreign countries including

the U.S., export volume saw a three-fold increase in ten years. The U.S. accounts for about 30% of

Japanese tea exports.

○ Change in import/export of green tea

599762

760872

1,0961,576

1,6251,701

1,958

2,2322,387

2,3512,942

3,5164,127

4,1084,642

5,1025,108

17,739

11,790

10,242

16,995

15,187

11,254

9,5917,326

5,8655,906

5,3935,473

4,8754,180

3,4733,618

3,970

4,7304,390

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Export volume (t) Import volume (t)

29%

27%

7%

6%

5%

26% U.S.

Taiwan

Germany

Singapore

Thai

Other Coutries

84%

6%6%

China

Vietnam

Austraia

Taiwan

Myanmar

Othre Countries

○Major countries importing tea from Japan (top five countries/regions, 2019)

（Volume of export from Japan by country)

○Major countries exporting tea to Japan (top five countries/regions, 2019)

(Volume of import to Japan by country)

Source：Ministry of Finance, Trade Statistics

Source：Ministry of Finance, Trade Statistics

10

15

2023 23

2523

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

0

200

400

600

800

H26 H27 H28 H29 H30 R1ドイツフランスオランダ

英国その他輸出額(EU計)

10. Results of tea export

In 2019, green tea export value was 14.6 billion yen, a 5% drop from 2018.

Export value has been on the rise for the past five years both for the U.S. and EU.

Source：“Trade Statistics”, Ministry of Finance

648534

596

420

(100 million JPY)(Tons)

589


2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

2,449 2,812 3,093 3,005 2,867

Unit：JPY/kg

662

1,550 1,698

1,420

1,407

1,595 1,485

34

4448

59

6865

0

20

40

60

80

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

H26 H27 H28 H29 H30 R１

輸出量輸出額

1,096

1,576

1,625

1,701

1,958

2,232

2,387

2,351

2,942

3,516

4,127

4,108

4,642

5,102

5,108

21

31 32 33 34

4247

51

66

78

101

116

144

153146

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

輸出量（トン）

輸出額（億円）


Export volume (tons)

Export value (100 million JPY)

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019

Export volume Export value

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Germany

UK

France

Others

Netherlands

Export value (EU total) 11

○ Green tea export (World) ○ Green tea export (to the U.S.)

○ Green tea export (to EU)

○ Change in export price of green tea

73 82 146 165

288 302 24

42 40

27 83 89

141 223

360

444 257

419 545

4

1

6

5

4

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1,000

H22 H23 H24 H25 H26 H27 H28 H29 H30 R1

米国カナダＥＵスイス

（ｔ）

Export volume (t)

(A)

Organically grown* (t) (B)

%(B/A)

ＵＳ 1,485 302 20.3

ＥＵ 648 545 84.1

11. Export of organic tea

As organic tea is not only in high demand overseas but is also able to meet Maximum Residue Limits, it is recognized as being suitable for export.

The amount of tea certified as organic by JAS is increasing. Export volume of organic tea utilizing an organic equivalency recognition of organic certification

systems is increasing. Such export accounts for a large part of total tea export especially for EU.

3,111

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

H13 H14 H15 H16 H17 H18 H19 H20 H21 H22 H23 H24 H25 H26 H27 H28 H29 H30

緑茶（仕上げ茶）

（ｔ）

Green tea (refined tea)

41%

18%11%

8%

5%2%

15%鹿児島県

静岡県

宮崎県

長崎県

三重県

愛知県

その他

* Export utilizing an organic equivalency recognition of organic

certification systems


Kagoshima pref.

Shizuoka pref.

Miyazaki pref.

Nagasaki pref.

Mie pref.

Aichi pref.

Others

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

US Canada EU Switzerland

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

12

○ Change in the amount of tea certified

as organic JAS (JAPAN)○ Change in the export volume of organic tea

utilizing an organic equivalency recognition

of organic certification systems

○ Percentage of JAS organic tea fields by prefecture

(FY2019)

○ Percentage of organic JAS tea

in tea export(FY2019)

<Reference> World trends in tea

In recent years, both production and export of green tea have been on the rise.

The amount of global green tea trade is projected to increase 60% over the next 10 years.

Source：Material from FAO-IGG on Tea

177.3

365.4

37.2

60.5

0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

250.0

300.0

350.0

400.0

2017 2027

(10 thousand

tons)

生産量貿易量

Grow 2.1-fold

Grow 1.6-fold

Export volume

(Thousand tons)

Source：“Annual Bulletin of Statistics”, International Tea Committee

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

H24 H25 H26 H27 H28 H29 H30中国ベトナム日本

インドネシアその他輸出量

Production volume

(Thousand tons)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

China

Indonesia

Vietnam Japan

Others Export volume Production volume International trade volume

13

○ Change in production and

export of green tea in the world

○ Outlook of the amount of

global green tea trade

(FAO forecast)

12. Development of new basic policy concerning promotion of tea industry and tea culture

Based on the change in the situation facing the tea industry in recent years, the “basic policy concerning

promotion of tea industry and tea culture” was newly developed in April, 2020.

<Current situation> <Direction of measures>

Future basic direction concerning the promotion of tea industry and tea culture

Promoting efforts of production, processing, and distribution of tea based on the characteristics and

actual situation of each producing region not by simply repeating conventional approaches but by thinking

outside the box while accurately grasping the needs of diversified consumers at home and abroad.

Promoting the improvement of quality/added value to respond to the

consumer needs and advancing the processing and distribution

・Responding to the diversifying consumer needs

・Promoting the cooperative efforts between producers and distributors/users,

Measures for the promotion of the tea industry

For convenience, consumers have

changed to favor green tea

beverage products over leaf tea.

As the tea industry was slow to

respond to this change, it has

suffered stagnating tea

consumption and sluggish prices.

On the other hand, if we turn our

attention to outside of Japan, the

amount of green tea traded

internationally in the world is

expected to rise going forward.

It is important to gain such

overseas demand.

In terms of production, there are

concerns that tea production may

not be sustainable in the future

due to aging workers and labor

shortage in the harvest season.

Contributing to realizing rich and

healthy lifestyles of Japanese people

Important core crop in hilly &

mountainous area

The tea industry is important also in

terms of local economy and

employment as it involves many

supporting industries.

Long-term perspective on domestic demand for tea: 86,000 tons (2018) → 79,000 tons (2030)

Tea production volume target: 86,000 tons (2018) → 99,000 tons (2030)

(Including 5,000 tons for export) (Including 25,000 tons for export)

Issues facing tea

Incre

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pro

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bil

ity, st

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sale

s fo

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f te

a p

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an

d im

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ust

ain

ab

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y

Long-term perspective on domestic demand and production volume target

Promoting the understanding tea culture

Preserving/utilizing tea-related cultural assets

Expanding export

・Promoting the overseas market development

・Developing production/distribution systems for substantial expansion of export

・Meeting the import conditions set by export-destination countries and regions

Stabilizing the management of producers・Promoting the production of tea according to the producing region’s characteristics・Promoting the replanting/planting of tea trees・Promoting the research and development and demonstration/introduction of

smart agriculture technologies,

Promoting consumption

・Spreading tea’s appeal to various consumer segments,

Centralizing and utilizing information concerning tea

Significance of the promotion of

tea industry and tea culture

Measures for the promotion of tea culture

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1. Purpose of Act

The purpose of this Act is to provide for the development of basic policies by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,

and to take various measures such as securing stable business management of tea producers, expanding consumption,

promoting food education using tea to contribute to such consumption, promoting export and disseminating knowledge on tea

tradition, so as to contribute to the achievement of sound development of tea industry and healthy and affluent lives of

nationals.

2. Summary of Act

(1) Development of basic policy (Article 2)

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries shall provide for a basic policy on the following matters:

(i) significance and basic policy for tea industry and promotion of tea culture;

(ii) setting a target for production quantities according to long-term perspective on tea demands;

(iii) measures for the promoting tea industry;

(iv) measures for the promotion of tea culture; and

(v) any other matters necessary for the promotion of tea industry and tea culture.

(2) Development of promotion plans (Article 3)

Prefectures shall make an effort to develop the promotion plan in accordance with the basic policy.

(3) Assistance measures by the national and local governments (Articles 4 through 10)

The national and local governments shall make an effort to implement the assistance measures in relation to the

following matters:

(i) securing stable business management of tea producers (e.g. improving environment of tea fields, assistance in replanting of

tea trees and promotion of disaster prevention);

(ii) improvement of processing and distribution (assistance for projects for creating new added value through integral

collaboration of agriculture, manufacturing, retail and other sectors)

(iii) promotion of quality improvement;

(iv) promotion of consumption;

(v) promotion of export;

(vi) promotion of tea culture; and

(vii) commendation of contributors to tea industry and tea culture.

(4) Assistance of national government (Article 11)

The national government must make an effort to implement necessary measures such as providing information, advice and

financing to local governments.

<Reference> Act on Promotion of Tea Industry and Tea culture

○ "Act on Promotion of Tea Industry and Tea culture" came into effect on April, 2011.

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current outlook of japanese tea - maff.go.jp

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