The Evolution and Role of the International Tea Committee

Tea is one of the world’s most widely consumed beverages, with global consumption reaching 6.5 million tonnes in 2022 and continuing to rise. Behind this vast industry is a quiet but indispensable organization that has kept the global tea trade informed and coordinated for over nine decades – the International Tea Committee (ITC). Born out of a crisis in international markets and shaped by decades of economic and political change, the ITC’s story is one of institutional adaptability and enduring relevance.

The crisis that sparked international cooperation 🔗

To understand why the ITC was created, you have to look at the state of the global tea market in the late 1920s. In the early 1920s, world tea exports stood at around 310,000 metric tons per year, with roughly 75% coming from British plantations in India and Ceylon, and 9% from Dutch producers in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). The United Kingdom alone absorbed about 60% of world tea exports during this period.

However, the rapid expansion of tea cultivation in Java and Sumatra changed the dynamics sharply. Exports from Java and Sumatra grew from 35,000 tons in 1921 to 72,000 tons by the end of the decade, flooding the market. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, demand fell while supply kept rising – a dangerous combination. Tea prices in London collapsed to nine and a half pence per pound, and the situation was even worse in Amsterdam.

In 1929, British and Dutch producers agreed to voluntarily restrict crops and exports to prevent further price erosion, but this informal arrangement fell apart by 1931. The British blamed the Dutch for failing to control the sale of smallholder leaf tea and for not bringing exports down. The breakdown of trust between the two major producing blocs made a more formal, government-backed arrangement necessary.

Founding of the International Tea Committee (1933) 🔗

The International Tea Committee was established in 1933 by representatives of tea growers in India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) to administer the Regulation Scheme under the terms of the International Tea Agreement, formally concluded on 9th February 1933, with the approval and support of the governments of all three participating countries.

The ITC had two core mandates from the outset. First, it was to administer the export regulation scheme – essentially an international quota system designed to reduce oversupply and stabilize prices. Legislation was adopted in each participating country making the export quota legally binding, while also limiting acreage expansion to a maximum of 0.5 percent per year. This gave the agreement real teeth, unlike the voluntary arrangement of 1929-1931.

Second, the ITC was tasked with collecting and compiling statistical data on tea production, exports, consumption, and stocks – not just within the three producing countries, but across all other countries as well. This data function, modest in 1933, would eventually become the organization’s defining legacy.

The regulation scheme worked. The International Tea Agreement of 1933 led to an immediate upward movement in prices, with average tea prices rising by around 30 percent and tea share values rising by roughly 90 percent within just a few months – a result that producers of other commodities like wheat and sugar could only envy at the time.

From regulation to information: the ITC after 1955 🔗

The regulation scheme remained in force through World War II, during which global trade conditions changed dramatically, and continued until 31st March 1955, after which it was not renewed. However, the ITC did not dissolve along with the scheme.

An agreement was reached between the governments of the participating countries to continue the International Tea Committee as a dedicated centre for the collection and publication of statistical data and information relating to tea. This pivot was significant – the organization transformed from a regulatory body with enforcement powers into an information and intelligence hub for the global tea industry.

This transition proved to be a smart long-term strategy. While commodity regulation schemes often collapse under the weight of competing national interests, the demand for accurate, impartial market data is perennial. The ITC has now been providing the tea industry with valuable statistical information for over 90 years, a testament to the enduring utility of that post-1955 refocus.

Expanding membership: bringing consumer countries on board 🔗

For most of its early history, the ITC was a club of producers. But the global tea trade is fundamentally a two-sided equation – there are producers, and there are consumers. Limiting membership only to producing countries meant the ITC had an inherently partial view of the market.

In 1979, full membership of the ITC was extended to include consumer countries, and new categories for Associate and Corporate members were subsequently introduced. This was a structural shift of real consequence. Consumer countries – whose imports, retail trends, and price sensitivity shape demand – could now participate directly in the organization’s governance and information-sharing processes.

Today, the ITC’s consuming country full members include the Tea Association of the USA, the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, the Irish Tea Trade Association, and the Protea Association of Italy. On the producing side, full members include the Tea Board of India, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Indonesia Tea Board, the Agriculture and Food Authority Tea Directorate of Kenya, the Bangladesh Tea Board, China Chamber of Commerce of Import Export of Foodstuffs (tea division), and the Tea Boards of Malawi and Tanzania.

Associate membership is open to organizations that represent tea interests in their country, while Corporate membership is available to private-sector companies involved in the tea trade. Members support the organization through financial contributions, which supplement the company’s income and help keep the cost of publications as low as possible.

Incorporation as a limited company (1986) 🔗

The next major structural change came in 1986. The International Tea Committee was formally incorporated on 18 December 1986 as a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, registered in London, England. Its registered office is currently located at Fox Court, Gray’s Inn Road, London.

This legal transformation was more than administrative paperwork. Incorporating as a limited company gave the ITC the operational and financial framework to function more independently, generate revenue through publications and subscriptions, and sustain its activities without relying solely on intergovernmental arrangements. It effectively modernized the organization’s structure to suit the realities of a post-colonial, commercially driven global economy.

The ITC’s primary revenue-generating publications include the Annual Bulletin of Statistics, the Monthly Web Summary, and historical compilations covering world tea statistics from 1910 to 1990. These publications cover annual data on production, exports, imports, acreage, auction prices, and consumption across all major producing and consuming countries.

What the ITC actually publishes – and why it matters 🔗

The ITC’s core product is data. But not all data is equal – the ITC’s value lies in its comprehensiveness, consistency over time, and neutrality. It is widely recognized by major tea producing and consuming nations as the official source for tea statistics and operates as an unbiased, non-profit organization.

Its publications track a wide range of variables:

• Production data – annual output volumes by country, broken down by tea type (black, green)
• Export data – volumes shipped by producing countries, with destinations
• Import data – volumes received by consuming countries, with country of origin
• Auction prices – weekly and average price data from major auction centres around the world
• Stocks and consumption – estimates of retained stocks and per-capita and total consumption figures

This data feeds into the work of industry analysts, government planners, and international institutions. For instance, the ITC’s preliminary data for 2023 showed that the gap between world tea supply and absorption was the highest ever recorded that year – a critical insight for producers, traders, and policymakers navigating disrupted trade flows caused by geopolitical tensions and Red Sea logistics challenges.

The ITC’s data is also used alongside that of the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea, which serves as the UN-level forum for intergovernmental consultation on tea market trends, policy changes, and medium-term outlooks. The two organizations are complementary – the FAO IGG provides the policy and projection framework, while the ITC supplies the granular historical and current statistical foundation.

The ITC’s relevance in today’s global tea market 🔗

The tea industry has changed enormously since 1933. Production has geographically diversified. China now accounts for nearly 50 percent of world tea production, followed by India with a 20.5 percent share – a far cry from the British-Dutch duopoly that necessitated the ITC’s creation. Green tea production has been growing faster than black tea, and consumer preferences are shifting toward premium, specialty, and wellness-oriented products.

Against this backdrop, reliable, standardized data is more important than ever. Climate change is introducing production volatility – as seen when Sri Lanka’s tea output fell by 15.6 percent in 2022 following a fertilizer ban and economic crisis. In 2023, total global tea exports slumped to 1.655 million tonnes, representing only 26.3 percent of world production, as trade disruptions weighed heavily on traditional import markets. Tracking these shifts systematically is precisely what the ITC was built to do.

The organization’s Business History Conference profile frames its evolution aptly – from a government-supported regulatory and marketing body to an international organization whose value depends on providing strategic information for the tea industry at large. That transition, navigated over decades, is what has allowed the ITC to outlast the regulatory era that created it and remain operational into the 21st century.

Key milestones in the ITC’s evolution 🔗

Tracing the ITC’s development reveals a clear institutional arc – from crisis management to data authority:

• 1933 – ITC founded under the International Tea Agreement by India, Ceylon, and the Netherlands East Indies
• 1933-1955 – Administers the international export regulation scheme
• 1955 – Regulation scheme ends; ITC continues as a statistical and information centre
• 1979 – Full membership extended to consumer countries; Associate and Corporate categories introduced
• 1986 – Incorporated as a private limited company in London
• Present – Operates as the recognized global authority for tea statistics, serving producers, consumers, traders, and policymakers

Each of these transitions was a response to changing circumstances – economic collapse, the end of colonialism, the need for broader market representation, and eventually the shift toward a more commercially structured operating model. The ITC’s durability lies in its willingness to evolve its form while maintaining its core function: producing timely, accurate, impartial data for the global tea industry.

What do you think? Given that the ITC was originally created to stabilize prices through production controls, does its current role as a data and statistics body represent a narrowing of its mandate – or a smarter, more sustainable form of influence in global commodity markets? And as newer tea-producing countries like Vietnam and Uganda grow in significance, how should international bodies like the ITC adapt their membership and data frameworks to stay representative?

References

1. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/c1cad039-4e40-4888-bc74-3073d3ed7963/content
2. https://inttea.com/itc-history/
3. https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-history-of-the-international-tea-market-1850-1945/
4. https://inttea.com/itc-members/
5. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02085298
6. https://inttea.com/publications/
7. https://inttea.com/
8. https://www.teaandcoffee.net/feature/34254/the-global-tea-report-2024/
9. https://www.fao.org/markets-and-trade/commodities-overview/intergovernmental-groups/fao-intergovernmental-group-on-tea/en
10. https://thebhc.org/reading-tea-leaves-international-tea-committee-and-global-greening-emerging-markets-1933-1977