Tetley To Foray Into Value-added Products

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Mumbai, June 28: : Tea is no longer just some hot water and leaves thrown into the pot. The UK based Tetley Group, primarily black tea bag suppliers, are now contemplating a shift in their international brand presence with value-added products, such as fruit-herb tea, green tea and others, in their developed markets.

World-renowned for innovations in technology, the company is now looking towards value-added tea products which they feel, had been overlooked till date.

"We are buyers world-wide and are second only to Levers in the international tea market. Till now, we only dealt in black tea and have yet to take a share in segments like fruit and herb and iced tea," said Tetley chief executive officer, Ken Pringle said.

"Growing topline now, is the future of the business," he added. With a rising awareness of the health benefits related to tea, Mr Pringle felt that the industry has to make headway in developed markets, where tea did not have high consumption levels.

"Carbonated drinks have a high consumption levels in the markets where we do business. To get a larger chunk of the beverage market, we need to change our approach," he said.

With different teas like fruit and herb teas, organic tea, ice tea, green tea creating value in the developed tea market,Tetley has introduced health drinks in the French market and is planning to push its organic tea in the UK market.

Tetley has 22.2 per cent market share in the UK, 10.6 per cent in the US, 39.2 per cent in Canada and 16.7 per cent in Australia. But the Group’s presence in the developing markets is negligible.

Mr Pringle said: "We have an insignificant presence in countries like Russia, China, Japan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and we need to address that issue as well."

According to Tetley financial director Peter Unsworth, the Tetley Group has 20 subsidiaries the world over. The Group’s profit after tax was 18 million pounds, with sales up five per cent for the year 2001-02.