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Market Data

Japanese Green Tea Consumption (Supply side based data)

Production, Export, and Import 

of Green Tea in Japan

Table: By the numbers. Production, Export, and Import of green tea in Japan.

Year 

(Japanese Era)

Domestic Production (t)

Import volume

Export volume

Domestic Consumption (g)

Per Population Consumption (t)

1965 (S40)
75,874
920
4,653
72,141
727
1970 (S45)
90,944
9,063

1,531

98,476
941
1975 (S50)
105,446
8,860
2,198
112,108

1,002

1980 (S55)
102,300
4,396
2,669
104,027
889
1985 (S60)
95,500
2,215

1,762

95,953
793
1989 (H1)
90,500
2,854
635
92,719
752
1993 (H5)
92,100
5,481
305
97,276
780
1998 (H10)
82,600
6,399
652
88,347
698
1999 (H11)
88,500
12,047
755
99,792
788
2000 (H12)
89,300
14,328
684
102,944
811
2001 (H13)
89,800
17,739
599
106,940
840
2002 (H14)
84,200
11,790
762
95,228
747
2003 (H15)
91,900
10,242
760
101,382
794
2004 (H16)
100,700
16,995
872
116,823
915
2005 (H17)
100,000
15,187

1,096

114,091
893
2006 (H18)
91,800
11,254
1,576
101,478
795
2007 (H19)
94,100
9,591
1,625
102,066
799
2008 (H20)
95,500
7,326
1,701
101,125
792
2009 (H21)
86,000
5,863
1,958
89,905
705
2010 (H22)
85,000
5,906
2,232
88,674
692
2011 (H23)
84,100
5,393
2,387
87,106
682
2012 (H24)
88,000
5,473
2,351
91,122
715
2013 (H25)
84,800
4,875
2,942
86,733
681
2014 (H26)
83,500
4,180
3,516
84,164
662
2015 (H27)
79,500
3,473
4,127
78,846
620
2016 (H28)
80,200
3,618
4,108
79,710
628
2017 (H29)
82,000
3,970
4,642
81,328
642
2018 (H30)
86,300
4,730
5,102
85,928
680
2019 (H31)
81,700
4,390
5,108
80,982
642
  • There was a huge increase in green tea demand in 2004 as it became used in bottled drinks, and the domestic production of green tea peaked at 100K tons. However, it has steadily fallen since then and is hovering around 80K tons.
  • The per capita consumption of tea in Japan has steadily decreased. Where it was stable at roughly 800 grams of tea consumption per year until 2008 has decreased to a little above 600 grams of tea consumption per year. This is an alarming sign as the Japanese population is also on the decrease.
  • Efforts have been made to export more Japanese tea, and the growth is showing. Exports have grown to roughly 5K tons in 2018 from merely 1K tons in 2005. However, the lack of growth in 2019 is a cause for concern.

Chart: Production, Import and Export of Green tea in Japan

  • The chart shows that there was a huge increase in green tea production in 2004. This was due to the usage of green tea in popular bottled drinks in Japan. The domestic production of green tea peaked at 100K tons at that time. However, it has steadily fallen since then and is currently hovering around 80K tons.
  • The chart shows that there was a huge growth of import tea between 1999 to 2005. This was due to an increase in demand of green tea for bottled drinks. However, the ingredients for these bottled drinks shifted to domestically produced tea, hence the import quantity has subsequently decreased.
  • In terms of import, for 2019 the top 5 countries are China (84%), Vietnam (6%), Australia (6%), Thaiwan, and Myanmar. [source]

Chart: The per population consumption of green tea in Japan

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