Tea junction

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Sanjay Sethi, head of Dubai Tea Trading Centre. (Khatuna Khutsishvili/ITP)

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Sanjay Sethi: Dubai Tea Trading Centre was conceived in 2005 to facilitate trade between tea producers, exporters, importers and merchants. (Khatuna Khutsishvili/ITP)

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(Khatuna Khutsishvili/ITP)

Strategically located between the world's leading tea consumers and producers, Dubai is often considered the traditional tea-trading hub for the Middle East and CIS countries.

Over the years, the emirate has defied a general downturn in the marketplace and generated substantial trading volumes in the form of re-exports to the region and further afield. Not even the severe droughts experienced by Kenya last year, which led to a massive 25% increase in the cost of tea, could deter Dubai from establishing itself as a logistical powerhouse for the tea-trading community.

"Its been a challenging time for the tea industry, which faced a number of challenges throughout the world in 2006, mainly due to factors beyond its control," explains Sanjay Sethi, head of Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC).

"However, despite these challenges, the Middle East actually managed to experience significant growth over the past twelve months. Take Dubai for example, which marked 2006 with record gains, indicating its growing importance on international trade routes for the industry."

At present, the Middle East accounts for approximately 27% of global tea imports - a figure that continues to grow annually. Dubai has succeeded in winning the lion's share of this market, trading a record breaking 105.5 million kilos of tea in 2006, an increase from 96.6 million kilos during the previous year.

These growing volumes have highlighted the importance of a specialist facility to service the tea industry's unique supply chain operations, with the required infrastructure available to traders under one roof. This was precisely the remit provided by Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) when it decided to create the Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC) two years ago, with operations beginning in March 2005.

"The region's prime position between Asia and Europe makes it ideally placed as a logistical hub for the tea industry," says Sethi, a professional tea taster with 22 years of experience in the industry, who has been instrumental in establishing the concept for DTTC and now manages the centre.

"The DMCC successfully identified this market opportunity and conceived the DTTC as a vehicle to facilitate trade between tea producers, exporters, importers and merchants on a regional and international basis," he states.

The concept has already proved fruitful. In total, DTTC has stocked and traded 6.7 million kilos of tea since the inception of its facility, located in Jebel Ali Free Zone. In addition, its growth rates are showing no signs of slowing down, especially since the centre is planning to target a number of new international territories in the future.

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