ABSTRACT
‘When tempers get heated and things are fogged, adjourn for tea. It is a priceless prescription.’ Like tin, tea is a minor commodity in world trade: the value of exports totalled $202 million in 1938 and rose only hesitantly thereafter. However, it is extremely important to developing countries who dominate its production and trade and as such was included as a core commodity under UNCTAD’s Integrated Programme. An important feature of tea production and marketing has been the degree of integration between the agricultural, industrial and marketing sides of the business. The crop comprises the young leaves and unopened leaf buds of the tea plant. The UK has traditionally provided the major market for world tea exports, taking three-quarters, for example, in 1935, although this proportion fell to only a quarter in 1979, with North America providing a major alternative market.
