Russia doubles tea import duties

25 July 1997

Russia doubles tea import duties

Russia has doubled duty on packaged tea imports in a move designed to
protect the local tea packaging industry.

May Tea, one of Russias biggest importers and distributors, plans to
build a packaging factory in the Moscow region with a capacity of 40,000
tonnes a year making it one of the biggest in the world. The company has
previously said it was up to 2.5 times more expensive to pack tea in Russia
than it was in Sri Lanka.

Russia imported about 150,000 tonnes of tea last year, mainly from
India and Sri Lanka. That places it second in the league table of tea
importers – Britain is top with 180,000 tonnes.