Over the past 20 years, China's tea production has recorded a consistent and impressive growth, and China now has the second largest tea industry in the world. Although it follows India in total production, it completely dominates the ‘ green tea’ market. While China exports only 20 per cent of its green tea, it exports 90 per cent of its black tea production – production which has been expanding at more than 7 per cent per annum over the last 15 years. It becomes critical then, whether China continues to push black tea exports in the face of declining world prices or whether it seeks to develop further the exports of its own unique green teas.
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