THE TEA TRADE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4818, 2 August 1939, Page 3

THE TEA TRADE

_ o EFFECT OF FAR EASTERN WAR. AMBITIONS OF JAPAN. Nervousness in the world markets of the tea trade has been caused by fears that Japan will usurp China's position in the field, writes Arthur Scholes from Hongkong to the Chicago Tribune. This would mark a significant development in the history of the commercial production of tea. P. E. Whitham, who has been employed at the Chinese Government for some time as a technical adviser for tea, has been in Hongkong recently, and through him some interesting facts about the tea markets have come to light. Whitham was attached to the Chinese Foreign Trade Commission.

He recalled that years ago prac tically all tea drunk abroad went from China. Just 100 years ago India began commercial production of tea in Assam. Ceylon joined in and later the Dutch East Indies and the East African countries. Japan grew tea hundreds of years ago, but it was only in recent years that it began to export it, both from Japan and Formosa. Development of modei'n methods of tea planting had serious consequences for the China trade, which fell behind considerably. In 1937 China exported 89,634,0001 b of tea, against 382,249,9161 b from Ceylon, and 173,597,000 lb from the Dutch East Indies. I Japanese Plans. It has that Japan intends in the future to exploit the China tea industry. At the moment, however, it has not gained possesion of any of

the tea districts. Although two small areas, one in south-west Hupeh Province and the other in north-west Kiangsi, nominally are behind the lines, these areas are not in fact under Japanese control, being in the mountains. Further, the export tea makers no longer are in these districts, and the Japanese-have not the necessary technical knowledge to produce highgrade tea. If they propose to produce tea along the same lines as in Japan, possibly using machinery, these teas will lose the essential Chinese characteristics for wrich they are sold abroad, Chinese say. Japan, however, may endeavour to induce Chinese tea merchants to carry on either under Japanese or puppet Government protection. Should Japan gain complete control, upon winning the war, it would mean that Japan herself would market the Chinese tea and the old for-

eign firms would be driven out of business. It seems more likely for the moment Japan will attempt to induce some of the Chinese tea toierchants to carry on their trade under Japanese protection, at the same time making an intensive drive to push its own tea abroad at China's expense. One such effort in 1938 led to disaster, owing to the inferiority of the Japanese tea exported to London.