Global: tea market size 2018-2029

The global tea market was valued at around 260 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, and is expected to rise to 362 billion dollars by 2029. Tea has a long history of popularity worldwide. It is thought to have originated in China, with records of its use dating back to the 3rd century AD. Originally used as a medicinal beverage, the drink was popularized for recreational use during the Tang dynasty and spread to other Asian countries. After European traders brought the leaves back to Europe in the 16th century, its popularity spread in the West as well.

Production

Today, China is still the leader in tea production. The country produced over 3.3 million metric tons of it in 2023. Other large producers are India and Kenya. These regions are hospitable to Camellia sinensis, the plant used to produce tea, which needs a tropical or subtropical climate.

Consumption

While the United States are the biggest importer of tea worldwide, buying over 519 million dollars’ worth in 2023, it is the citizens of Turkey who are most fond of the beverage. In 2016, the average Turkish person consumed nearly seven pounds of tea during the year.

Value of the global tea market from 2018 to 2029 (in billion U.S. dollars)

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Release date

July 2024

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2018 to 2029

Supplementary notes

The Hot Drinks market segment, Tea, consists of black tea, green tea and mate sold in tea bags or as loose-leaf tea. This segment does not include herbal tea, instant tea, iced tea or similar tea-derived Ready-to-Drink beverages. Ready-to-Drink variants are instead aggregated into the subsegment Non-Carbonated Soft Drinks in the Alcoholic Drinks market.

Unilever (Lipton), Associated British Foods (Twinings) and Tata Global Beverages (Tetley) are globally the most important players by revenue.

The market for Hot Drinks is structured into retail sales for at home consumption and on-premise or foodservice sales for out-of-home consumption. The at-home market, also called off-trade market, covers all retail sales via super- and hypermarkets, convenience stores or similar sales channels. The out-of-home market, also called on-trade market, away-from-home market or HORECA encompasses all sales to hotels, restaurants, catering, cafés, bars and similar hospitality service establishments. Both the at-home and the out-of-home market are valued at retail selling prices including all sales and consumption taxes. The price per unit in the out-of-home market always references the total price over the amount of tea consumed, regardless of the other components of the finished beverage. One cup of tea is assumed to contain 2 grams of tea. One kilogram therefore represents 500 cup equivalents. The valuation of the out-of-home segment at retail prices means a significant change of the market definition in comparison to earlier iterations of the Consumer Market Outlook, as out-of-home consumption was valued at wholesale prices before. This means, market totals are not comparable to published data from prior years.

All figures are estimate. A detailed methodology can be found in the Statista Consumer Market Outlook.

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