Business News

Malawi tea to be showcased at UK Parliament tomorrow

The Malawi High Commission in London, United Kingdom (UK) in conjunction with London Tea Exchange will tomorrow host a Malawi Tea Tasting event at the House of Commons at the UK Parliament.

Speaking in an interview on Monday, Malawi High Commission trade attaché Shakira Phiri said the event presents an opportunity for the country to showcase its tea, which is one of the critical foreign exchange earners.

Bisika (C), London Tea CEO Cheikh Aliur Rahman (L) and London Tea Exchange director Misbah Chowdhury on the sidelines of an earlier meeting | Nation

She said: “Most of the Malawian tea buyers are in the UK, such as Tata, Camelia and others.

“However, since the teas end up as a blend, most of these do not even mention Malawi anywhere in their brand.”

Phiri said one of the objectives of the Malawi Tea Tasting event is to improve visibility of the country’s teas and also address ethical issues surrounding the commodity.

“Another issue [is] ethical issues around tea, for example, child labour which [has] affected negatively the Malawi teas internationally.

“We are going to use this as a platform to tell the world what we have done to address those issues,” she said.

Phiri also said the Malawi High Commission has planned other events this year, such as facilitating the participation of Malawian businesses at the UK trade exhibition called Food and Drinks scheduled for March.

She said: “In addition, Malawi will also participate at the World Show Dublin from 24 to 26 January and at the Destinations: The Holiday Travel Show London from January 30 to February 2.”

Malawi High Commissioner to the UK Thomas Bisika said in an interview on Monday the event will also bring together current and potential new buyers, packers, retailers, leading tea producers, government officials and other tea stakeholders, including Tea Association of Malawi representatives.

He said: “This is a great opportunity to showcase developments in the Malawi tea industry and get immediate feedback from various players in the market. This will result in an increase in tea exports to United Kingdom.”

Tea Association of Malawi chief executive officer Tonda Chinangwa said in an interview yesterday that the exhibition seeks to achieve increased market access for the country’s teas in the UK, which consumes 40 percent of the country’s tea.

“We expected increased awareness of the importance and unique qualities of Malawi tea and the need for global markets to support increased market access and sustainability,” he said.

Tea is one of the country’s foreign exchange earners, contributing about eight percent to forex earnings and 11 percent to the national employment.

 The tea industry employs about 60 000 temporary and permanent workers.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button