Tea Export Data 2026: Top Buyers, Importers & HS 0902

India shipped US$924 million of tea in FY2024-25, up from US$826 million a year earlier — a near 12% jump on 257.88 million kg of export volume, the highest in years (IBEF, Tea Board via Business Standard). Nearly every kilo moves under one four-digit heading: HS 0902. Tea export data — the shipment-level record of which importer bought what grade, from whom, how often — is how working exporters and blenders read this market. This guide shows how to use it.

Tea is a concentrated trade. Four origins (Kenya, China, Sri Lanka and India) supply most of the world, and a short list of destinations buys most of what they ship. If you export tea, or blend and resell it, the gap between a good year and a flat one is knowing which importer in Dubai, Karachi or Hamburg is buying your grade right now.

The tea export data most sellers miss

Volume tells one story. Price tells another. India's 257.88 million kg in FY25 split into 161.20 million kg from the north (Assam, Dooars, Darjeeling), up a strong 8.15%, against 96.68 million kg from the south (the Nilgiris, Munnar), which slipped 4.92% (DT Next). The number that matters more is realisation: average export price climbed to Rs 290.97 per kg, up 12.65%. That is why value grew four times faster than volume. Anyone bidding at the Kolkata or Guwahati auctions watched that build lot by lot, months before the annual figures confirmed it.

India exports only around a fifth of its crop; the domestic cup drinks the rest. So Assam and Darjeeling export lots compete for shelf space against Kenyan CTC and Ceylon orthodox, and the tea exporters who win target the right buyer for their exact grade instead of chasing volume. Tea sits inside India's wider food and agro export story, where the same buyer-discovery playbook covers spices, rice and coffee.

India shipped 257.88 million kg of tea in FY25 — but 96% of it was black tea, and five markets took the lion's share. Knowing which five, and who inside them actually clears the containers, is the whole game.

Which countries import the most tea?

Pakistan is the world's largest tea importer at US$624 million in 2024, followed by the USA ($577M) and the UK ($382M), per World's Top Exports. For Indian tea, the UAE leads: 18.5% of shipments in early FY26, ahead of Iraq, the USA and Russia.

Those shares come from destination data for April-July 2025. Zoom out and the pool is deep: worldwide tea imports totalled US$7.33 billion in 2024, and 74.7% of that was black tea. The five biggest buyer markets — Pakistan, the USA, the UK, the UAE and Russia — took almost a third (31.5%) of global imports between them. The fastest riser was the UAE, up 68.3% year on year. Much of what lands in Dubai gets blended and re-exported onward, and Iran and the CIS have long bought Indian orthodox in bulk. That is exactly why a Gulf importer's shipment record is worth reading before you quote them.

Tea export data by HS code: the 0902 family

Get the code right and the trade data lines up cleanly. Get it wrong and you are searching the wrong ledger. Tea lives under HS heading 0902, split by colour and pack size:

• 090210 — green tea (not fermented) in immediate packings of ≤3 kg
• 090220 — green tea in bulk (over 3 kg)
• 090230 — black tea (fermented) in packings of ≤3 kg — the retail and private-label line
• 090240 — black tea in bulk — the CTC and orthodox chest trade

For India the split is lopsided: the black tea HS codes 090230 and 090240 carry roughly 96% of shipments. Sell packeted retail tea? Watch 090230. Sell bulk to blenders? Watch 090240. New to how these codes work? Start with our guide to what an HS code is and how to use it before you filter a single shipment.

Orthodox vs CTC: who buys what in 2026

The top of the export table is a three-way race. Kenya, China and Sri Lanka each ship on the order of $1.3-1.4 billion a year, and India, up about 14% in 2024, is closing the gap (World's Top Exports, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal). Sri Lanka's Ceylon output has been volatile since its fertiliser and currency shocks, and Indian and Kenyan orthodox is moving to fill the space.

Grade decides the buyer. CTC, the crush-tear-curl style that brews strong and fast, feeds teabag and milk-tea markets. Orthodox whole leaf is what Iran, Iraq and Russia have historically paid up for. A common first-timer mistake: quoting CTC to a house that only blends orthodox. Two minutes in that buyer's shipment history would have flagged it.

One twist that surprises newcomers: India is now Kenya's largest tea buyer, importing Kenyan CTC to blend and re-export (NextIAS). A top-four exporter is also a major importer. In tea, the same company often sits on both sides of the ledger. Vet a counterparty on shipment history, not brochures.

A top-four exporter that is also a top importer of raw leaf: in tea, "buyer" and "supplier" are often the same address. Read the shipment record before you assume which one you're talking to.

How to find tea buyers with ShipScout

ShipScout turns 11B+ shipment records across 240+ countries into ranked, contactable buyer and supplier lists. Working the tea export data takes four steps:

• Search by HS code. Enter 0902 (or drill to 090240 for bulk black tea) and pick your market. US and UK import records are public bill-of-lading data, so you see the consignee, volume and frequency directly. For India, mirrored licensed trade data surfaces the same buyer intelligence to help exporters target the right markets.
• Rank importers by volume in a target market. Point the filter at the UAE or the USA and sort consignees by shipment weight so the biggest, most regular tea importers rise to the top instead of hiding in a directory.
• Vet the counterparty's real trade record. Before you pay a blender or agent, check their shipment history (grades, ports, counterparties, consistency) the same way you would vet any international supplier before wiring a deposit.
• Reach the decision-makers. Each company profile carries contact intelligence where available, so you move from "who imports my grade" to a named buyer in one step. Browse the India company directory to see how exporter profiles are built.

Whether you sell orthodox Darjeeling to a London house or Assam CTC by the container to Dubai, the buyers already show up in the tea export data — filter to them. Start a free trial and run HS 0902 against your first target market today.