A few days ago, the official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published the “Reply to Recommendation No. 4910 of the Fifth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress”, stating that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will work with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments, guided by the “Three Products and One Standard” for agricultural products (pollution-free agricultural products, green food, organic agricultural products and geographical indications of agricultural products), to build a standard system for the whole tea industry chain with products as the main line and whole-process quality control as the core, focus on advantaged tea-producing areas, create high-standard whole-industry-chain standardized tea bases, cultivate new types of agricultural business entities that produce according to standards, and strive to raise the level of standardization implementation in the tea industry.
China is the origin of the tea plant and a major world tea producer. In 2021, the national output of dry crude tea reached 3.18 million tonnes, up 8.3% year on year; exports reached 369,000 tonnes with an export value of US$2.3 billion, up 5.9% and 12.8% year on year respectively. As an important cash crop, tea is of great significance for promoting the development of rural specialty industries and increasing farmers’ incomes.
In 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation and the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Tea Industry”, calling for coordinating tea culture, the tea industry and tea technology, connecting production, processing and sales, and integrating agriculture, culture and tourism; accelerating variety improvement, quality enhancement, brand building and standardized production; raising the modernization level of the tea industry chain and supply chain; building a whole tea industry chain; expanding the multiple functions of the tea industry; and improving the quality, efficiency, competitiveness and sustainable development capacity of the tea industry.
On Improving the Comprehensive Tea Evaluation Standards
According to reports, in recent years China has actively advanced the construction of a tea standard system, formulating 76 national tea standards (of which 16 adopt standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)), 245 industry standards, more than 1,100 local standards, more than 950 group standards and about 10,000 enterprise standards, forming a tea industry standard system with complete categories and a scientific structure that covers the entire tea industry chain, including the production environment, tea garden construction, production and processing, storage, transport and packaging. In 2021, the international standard “Green Tea \u2014 Vocabulary” (ISO 18449:2021), whose formulation was led by China, was officially released and implemented, raising China’s voice in international discourse.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated that, regarding the establishment of comprehensive tea evaluation standards, China has developed nationally unified standard samples for grading crude tea and for tea processing, and has formulated tea quality evaluation standards such as sensory evaluation methods and physicochemical analysis methods. In 2022, the National Technical Committee on Standard Samples established a professional working group for tea standard samples, focusing on solving the problem of missing physical reference standards in China’s tea quality evaluation and laying the foundation for tea quality evaluation. Because China’s tea regions span a vast area, the ecological environments of the producing areas are complex and diverse, tea products are rich in variety, and consumer preferences differ greatly, indicators of tea quality and nutritional characteristics have not yet formed a system, and the tea quality component database is still under construction.
Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will work with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments to strengthen preliminary research and evaluation for the formulation and revision of comprehensive tea evaluation standards; focusing on locational advantages and product functions, study the quality indicators of different producing areas, different processes, different raw materials and different products; promote the establishment of a tea grading and evaluation system; build a tea quality component database; and strive to build a whole-tea-industry-chain standard system that covers all factors, the whole chain and multiple levels. It will actively advance the international standardization of tea and enhance China’s voice in the formulation of international standards.
On Standardization Promoting Tea Brand Building and Industrial Development
According to reports, in recent years the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments, has taken standardization as the lead, actively promoted the development of tea specialization and branding, and continuously raised the quality and efficiency of the tea industry’s development.
First, strengthening base construction and product certification. The “Three Products and One Standard” action for the crop farming industry has been solidly advanced; the construction of standardized raw-material bases and production bases for tea has been strengthened; green production models centered on green pest control and high-efficiency specialized fertilizers have been integrated and applied; and the standardization level of the whole tea industry chain has been continuously raised. The national coverage rate of green prevention and control of tea pests and diseases has reached 57.5%. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs supports the certification of tea-related green food, organic products and geographical indication agricultural products. As of May 2021, there were 5,317 green-food tea products nationwide, 229 tea geographical indication agricultural products, 2,950 organic tea cultivation certificates and 1,454 processing certification certificates.
Second, strengthening the cultivation of premium brands. In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the “Premium Agricultural Brand Cultivation Plan (2022\u20132025)”, and localities have strengthened the cultivation of premium tea brands. At present, a number of influential and driving premium tea brands have been formed, such as “Pu’er Tea”, “Longjing Tea”, “Anji White Tea”, “Anhua Dark Tea”, “Anxi Tieguanyin” and “Xinyang Maojian”.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that, next, it will work with the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments, guided by the “Three Products and One Standard” for agricultural products, to build a standard system for the whole tea industry chain with products as the main line and whole-process quality control as the core, focus on advantaged tea-producing areas, create high-standard whole-industry-chain standardized tea bases, cultivate new types of agricultural business entities that produce according to standards, and strive to raise the level of standardization implementation in the tea industry. It will give play to the role of exhibition and display platforms at all levels, strengthen the publicity and promotion of regional public tea brands, and create premium green and high-quality tea products, providing strong support for ensuring the quality and safety of agricultural products and promoting high-quality agricultural development. (This article is reproduced for exchange and learning purposes only; if it involves copyright or other infringement issues, please inform us for deletion.<\/p>\n
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
ZENTEA MANOR
Alliance Supply Chain Services Limited
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