Georgia was known in Soviet times as almost the only tea maker in the
country. Georgian tea was famous, but not high quality. Georgia had a
monopoly in the tea industry and this did not benefit its productions.
After the fall of USSR, the situation changed. The CIS countries had
an inflow of high quality tea from India and Ceylon. Tea production in
Georgia simply died out, tens of factories closed, plantations fell to
ruin and the people of Guria and Samergelo were left unemployed. Only
after 15 years did European companies start noticing the Georgian
plantations (probably due to cheap labor) and started developing
projects to produce high quality tea in large amounts.
The company Geoplant launched a new product called Guriyskiy Export in
June. The tea makers seem to be intending to export the tea to foreign
markets, mainly in the CIS, which Georgia left in August 2008. But
Georgia should first conquer its own market, which is overflowing with
English tea.
The company says that they have been studying the prospects of various
markets for several years. Geoplant declares that it will produce high
quality products for the middle class to compete with such brands as
'Ahmad' and 'Lipton'.
But the main competitor on the Georgian market is the Azerbaijani
'Azersun' company, which controls approximately 65% of the tea
consuming segment.
As concerns production, the country produces 2,000 tons of tea
annually. Georgia consumes 5% of it, exporting the rest to Central
Asia. In comparison, Soviet Georgia produced 500,000 tons of tea
annually. But those times have gone and Georgian tea makers will have
to adjust to the new conditions of fierce competition and a merciless
struggle for the consumer.
Georgiy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK
