With the Fairtrade Fortnight approaching this coming May, Australians have a real opportunity to boost the Fairtrade movement in Australia. However, Datamonitor research has determined that it will require a concerted effort from consumers and industry players alike to bring Fairtrade into the mainstream. Fairtrade Fortnight will take place in Australia and New Zealand from 1-16 May, 2010 and the ‘Big Swap’ campaign, organized by the Fairtrade Association, challenges consumers to swap as... ...Read more »

The biggest growth in coffee is coming from out-of-home consumption with more and more consumers adopting the idea of café culture, reports Datamonitor in their report “Hot drinks in Australia to 2013″. According to the report, sales of hot drink products in Australia surpassed A$1350m in the year 2008 and is expected to be worth A$1473m in 2013, with the coffee category accounting for the largest share followed by tea. In the tea category, consumers are showing increasing interest towards... ...Read more »

Sara Lee announced on February 23rd that it has sourced the first sustainable tea approved by its partner US CERTIFIED.  Sara Lee already sells UTS CERTIFIED coffee, having recently announced plans to source 40,000 tons of of sustainable coffee in 2010. The successful completion of UTZ CERTIFIED audits in Joure, Indonesia and Malawi will allow Sara Lee, which sells its tea under flagship brands such as PICKWICK and HORNIMANS, to purchase 2,000 tons of certified tea to market in 2010, comprising... ...Read more »

Police arrested Bill Harvey, Woolworths’ buyer for coffee, tea and sugar, on Friday as part of an investigation into a national kickback scheme involving coffee and tea suppliers.  The executive was also sacked from his position at the company’s Bella Vista headquarters yesterday after an internal investigation, and has been replaced by Jim Stephan.  An unidentified Melbourne broker was also arrested but later released, with charges believed to be pending. It is alleged that wholesalers... ...Read more »

Tea prices reached record levels this year but should ease in 2010 as weather patterns returned to normal in the main tea-producing regions of Asia and Africa, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has advised.The FAO Tea Composite price, the indicative world price for black tea, reached a high of $3.18 a kilogramme in September amid droughts in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya and underpinned by increased demand, compared to an average price of $2.38 per kilogramme in 2008. The concern is that... ...Read more »

Consumers are willing to pay a premium for healthy products, according to new research from America. Due to its compelling image as an innovative yet accessible beverage that is good tasting, good for you, and budget friendly, tea has remained profitable, with 2% annual gains in 2008 and 2009, according to Tea and Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Tea in the U.S.: Retail, Foodservice and Consumer Trends, by market research publisher Packaged Facts. Over the next several years, tea’s health halo will gradually... ...Read more »

Bottled water has been a victim of the recession in some of the world’s hardest hit developed economies and the outlook for the product is clearly not as bright as it was just one year ago. Black tea sales have also taken a hit, as consumers change their consumption behaviour. Bottled water According to Simon Maddrell, Euromonitor’s industry manager of hot and soft drinks, the credit crunch is squeezing the still bottled water category in two ways, firstly, by encouraging a shift into... ...Read more »

Iconic Sri Lankan tea producer, Dilmah, has celebrated their 21st year with Founder, Merrill J. Fernando, and his son, Dilhan, recently returning to Australian shores – where the family company took their first steps toward competing on the cutthroat international stage. The remarkable Dilmah success story began over half a century ago when Merrill, or ‘Mr Dilmah’ as he is often referred to in Australia, saw an opportunity for his country – a major tea producer – to... ...Read more »

Unilever’s Lipton brand is pledging to become more ethical as the consumer giant releases new research into Australian attitudes towards sustainability. A twelve-month study, undertaken by AMR Interactive and Newspoll on behalf of Unilever, discovered that 51 per cent of Australians were more concerned about sustainability this year compared to last, with 62 per cent believing it to be one of the most critical issues confronting the country today. The research, entitled Sustainable Australia?,... ...Read more »

According to Oxford researchers working with colleagues in Norway, chocolate, wine and tea enhance cognitive performance. The team, from Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics and Norway, examined the relation between cognitive performance and the intake of three common foodstuffs that contain flavonoids (chocolate, wine, and tea) in 2,031 older people (aged between 70 and 74). Participants filled in information about their habitual food intake and underwent a battery of cognitive... ...Read more »