Vietnam's Tea Exports Fall as Pakistan Trade Drops by Two Thirds
Vietnam shipped less tea abroad in the first five months of 2026 than a year earlier, as its shipments to Pakistan fell by more than 70 percent. But the average price it earned per tonne rose, as exporters pushed harder into Taiwan, the Philippines, and other markets paying more.
Vietnam's tea shipments totaled 43,200 tonnes worth $74.7 million from January through May 2026, down 7.1% in volume and 2.5% in value from a year earlier, the Import-Export Department under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Tea Association said. The average price Vietnam earned per tonne rose to $1,730, up 4.9%.
Pakistan's pullback drives the decline. Vietnam sold Pakistan just 2,900 tonnes worth $5 million through April, according to customs data reported separately in late May by the newspaper Nong Nghiep va Moi Truong, down 71.3% in volume and 73.7% in value from a year earlier. Over the same four months, Vietnam's total exports fell a smaller 3.8% in volume to 34,400 tonnes, while total value rose 1.2% to $58.5 million and the average price climbed 5.1% to $1,704.20 a tonne.
Vietnamese exporters have offset the Pakistan decline by selling more into markets that pay better. In the five-month data, Taiwan became Vietnam's largest tea buyer, taking 4,800 tonnes worth $9.2 million, up 4.3% in volume and 17% in value. Shipments to the Philippines rose 84.2% in volume and 93.6% in value; to India, 12% in volume and 18.1% in value; to Russia, 13.2% in volume and 2.7% in value; and to the United States, 3.9% in volume and 14.5% in value. Exports to China, Vietnam's other major buyer, fell 9.8% in volume and 14.1% in value to 4,400 tonnes worth $6.8 million. In the four-month data, Taiwan paid Vietnam an average of $1,831.20 a tonne for its tea, up 10.6%, the highest price of any market reported.
Vietnam is a minor producer next to the industry's giants, China and India, and barely registers in this publication's own coverage of the trade. But the shift now under way there follows a pattern familiar from Kenya's tea levy and Nepal's reopened factories this year: a single buyer pulls back, and a producing country's total volume falls even as it works to extract a higher price from whoever remains.
Sources: DTiNews, Vietnam tea exports shift toward US and Russian markets; Nong Nghiep va Moi Truong, Vietnam's four-month tea exports fall in volume but rise in value.