Indonesia Tea Exports Reach Malaysia and Taiwan

 JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – PT Mitra Kerinci is exporting its quality black tea and green tea to Taiwan and Malaysia.

The Indonesian company is the subsidiary of state-owned enterprise, PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia, or commonly known as RNI.

It exports its black tea, which uses a combination of tea leaves of different grades, to its buyer South Asiatic Taiwan.

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Mitra Kerinci’s green tea has a fanning tea grade and is exported to a Malaysian tea manufacturing company, Sheriff Tea.

In a press statement, Mitra Kerinci Director Ondo said that the 24.5 tons of tea for export have been flown out of the farm in Liki, West Sumatra to Belawan Port.

According to Ondo, this is the first tea export shipment in 2020 since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Last year, Mitra Kerinci regularly exported its tea to Taiwan and other countries.

“Every year, we would receive an order from Taiwan for black tea with a selected tea leaf grading combined with ingredients to make a local tea-based drink product. Exports to Taiwan is part of a business partnership between Mitra Kerinci and our buyer, South Asiatic Taiwan,” said Ondo.

Mitra Kerinci’s green tea has obtained the fanning grade which is a tea grade ideal for teabags. This green tea variant is shipped to Sheriff Tea in Malaysia.

“This is Mitra Kerinci’s first time to export green tea to Malaysia. During the initial process working with Sheriff Tea, they carried out research and a site visit to our tea plantation in Liki,” said Ondo.

Of Mitra Kerinci's 24.5 tons of tea exports, 23.5 tons of black tea were sold to Taiwan. The remaining 1 ton of green tea went to Malaysia.

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Going forward, exports to Taiwan will be divided into several shipping phases.