Natalia Partskhaladze, the founder of the Georgian tea brand "Kona", appreciates the "Tea Plantation Rehabilitation Program" with BM.GE and notes that the production of high-quality raw materials in the country is increasing y-o-y, but the market demand is not enough.
The founder of "Kona" declares that it is difficult to sell Georgian tea in the local market, including chain markets. According to her, the reputation of tea in the country has disappeared, and the market is saturated with imported products, so before exporting, companies should take care of increasing awareness within the country.
"Tea production volume has increased with the state efforts, but the sales did not. Therefore, I think that before we start exporting, we should increase awareness of Georgian tea in our own country. Georgian tea did not have a good reputation, even though we produced quality tea during the Soviet Union, which went to the next high-ranking officials, and they were not interested in the quality of mass production. That's why we should start a new season of Georgian tea history, and not continue the old one", - says the founder of "Kona".
Partskhaladze also talks about the approach of the HoReCa sector, noting that they do not introduce locally produced tea into the chain. According to her, all restaurants offer their guests Greenfield tea instead of Georgian one.
According to Geostat, tea exports from Georgia have increased.
In 8M2024, Georgia exported 861.6 tons of tea worth 1.1 million USD. The main export market is Mongolia, where 36.4% of Georgian tea was sold in January-August.
