The expert told how Lipton’s departure will come back to haunt: tea will rise in price

But it’s not going anywhere

Another brand that we are losing is the famous Lipton tea. Since tea, in general, belongs to essential products, even a Russian consumer accustomed to everything may have concerns: what will happen to us now with tea? Moreover, almost all tea in Russia is imported: with all due respect to the Krasnodar tea growers, their share is very small.

This time, the generally recognized tea expert Denis Shumakov reassured MK: there will be no catastrophe. True, tea, like many other things, will inevitably rise in price – but this has nothing to do with Lipton. Fuel, insurance are getting more expensive, logistics are changing…

Our tea is indeed imported, but the Russian Federation has excellent relations with all countries where tea is grown. This is primarily India, whose share is from 30% to 40%, as well as Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam and Kenya. Another thing is that, as the expert noted with some irony, “tea floats through Odessa and Riga.” So there are problems with logistics. But the problems of the global tea market began with the coronavirus pandemic, and there were also problems besides it.

“Some time ago, Sri Lanka decided to play green economy and banned the import of agricultural chemicals – because of this, their tea industry collapsed,” Shumakov said. – Then, due to covid, all logistics collapsed. And when sanctions were imposed against Russia and Belarus, the market for mineral fertilizers collapsed. And the same Sri Lanka discovered that, in general, there is no agricultural chemistry.”

And what exactly is Lipton, which, according to Denis Shumakov, occupies from 5% to 10% of the Russian tea market? As the expert rightly recalled, Lipton is not an independent tea company founded by Sir Thomas Lipton for a long time. As early as 15 years ago, the owners of this brand began to face the fact that the demand for cheap or “basic” black teas was falling in the world. This is due to the fact that the standard of living of the population in the world at the very least, but still somehow grew, and “basic” black tea is the first drink of the poor. The owners of Lipton, according to the expert, “tried to create a new focus of consumer attention, transfer it to more expensive tea – but they did not succeed.” “Well, here’s another good reason to leave the market: you didn’t seem to fade out of the market as a loser, but left beautifully, like a respectable person,” Shumakov noted.

Meanwhile, in the modern Russian Federation, the tea (“tea-packing”) industry is quite developed. “The companies that remain on the Russian market, primarily domestic ones, are happy to “smooch” this share and will only be happy about it,” Shumakov noted. – The consumer will hardly notice it. In the mass market of fans of a single brand who will be hysterical because the usual tea is gone … I have not seen such a long time.