Chinese tea exports to MENA — 2026 destination breakdown

MENA is no longer a peripheral market for Chinese tea. From the bustling wholesale halls of Dubai’s Al Ras district to the traditional mint-tea rituals of Casablanca, the region imported over 83,000 tonnes of Chinese tea in 2025, trailing only Russia and the EU in total volume. Yet the flow is shifting: green tea still dominates, but black tea and specialty categories are carving out meaningful share, driven by a young, digitally connected consumer base and a maturing halal-certification pipeline. Sandry Law, Head of Procurement for Teamotea’s constellation of brands, has spent the past eighteen months triangulating customs data, freight indices, and direct buyer feedback from Riyadh to Cairo. “The number of MENA-based wholesalers visiting our Kunming sourcing offices doubled between 2023 and 2025,” he notes. “They are no longer just price-shopping gunpowder green; they want Yunnan black tea, jasmine-scented greens, and even small-lot sheng pu’er for the premium Gulf segment.” This report dissects the 2026 destination breakdown — by country, category, price band, and logistics pathway — to give tea buyers, exporters, and supply-chain analysts a tangible view of where the tonnes are landing and at what cost.

MENA’s evolving tea appetite

Tea is embedded in MENA hospitality codes: in Morocco, the ritual of atay requires precise pouring height; in Saudi Arabia, unsweetened green tea punctuates diwaniya gatherings. Historically reliant on Indian and Sri Lankan black tea, the region began a decisive pivot toward Chinese supply in the late 2010s, accelerated by price competitiveness and the growing availability of halal-certified product. According to GACC data, China’s tea exports to the 19 MENA countries grew at a compound annual rate of 6.8% between 2020 and 2025, outpacing the 4.2% growth of total Chinese tea exports worldwide. In 2025 alone, volume rose 9.7% to 83,200 tonnes, while total FOB value reached USD 412 million — a 12.4% value gain, indicating a gradual mix shift toward higher-value teas. Morocco remained the single largest market by volume, absorbing 23,400 tonnes, primarily gunpowder green (Zhū Chá 珠茶) from Zhejiang and Fujian. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however, recorded the steepest value-per-kilogram increases, as importers diversified into jasmine-scented green tea, organic black tea, and compressed pu’er cakes for gift-oriented retail. Sandry Law notes that this trend mirrors what his procurement desk observed: “We used to bid almost exclusively on minimum-grade green tea for MENA. Now, the same Dubai buyer who bought 20 containers of 95022 gunpowder last year is also asking for 500 kg of spring-harvest Bái Hǎo Yín Zhēn for a concept store in Dubai Mall.”

Green tea still commands the ritual

Despite diversification, green tea accounted for 71% of Chinese tea exports to MENA by volume in 2025, down only slightly from 74% in 2020. The dominance persists because the region’s tea-drinking culture — Morocco’s mint tea, Algeria’s strongly infused shāy, Egypt’s koshari-style brew — relies on the brisk, slightly smoky character of young-harvest gunpowder green. The Zhejiang Mao Feng grades that find their way into Cairo tea-bags are often blended with Kenyan CTC for cost, but the base leaf remains Chinese. GB/T 14456-2017, the national standard for green tea, sets key parameters for moisture content (≤7.0%) and foreign matter, and the large-scale exporters to MENA increasingly request ISO 22000-certified batches to meet supermarket audit requirements. The sensory profile preferred in Casablanca — a dark olive liquor with a clean, mineral finish — is achieved through a final pan-firing at 280–300°C, which Sandry Law describes as “the sweet spot where the leaf retains enough suppleness for rolling without losing the pronounced smoky edge that MENA buyers associate with authenticity.”

Destination snapshot — the top five importers

China’s tea trade with MENA is highly concentrated: the top five destinations — Morocco, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Algeria, and Egypt — collectively received 78% of the region’s total Chinese tea volume in 2025. Morocco led with 23,400 tonnes (USD 89 million FOB), followed by Saudi Arabia at 18,500 tonnes (USD 105 million), whose higher unit value reflects a 73% share of green tea above the USD 4.50/kg threshold. The UAE imported 12,100 tonnes but functions more as a re-export hub: an estimated 40% of tea arriving in Jebel Ali port is transshipped to Iran, Iraq, and the Levant, often relabeled under local brands. Algeria (7,800 tonnes) and Egypt (5,600 tonnes) round out the top five, with black tea composition rising to 35% in Egypt as the domestic market leans toward malty, high-oxidation teas reminiscent of Sri Lankan BOPF — albeit at a lower price point that Chinese factories meet by adjusting withering and crush-tear-curl parameters in Yunnan’s Lincang prefecture. GB/T 13738.2-2017, the standard for black tea — Part 2: Congou black tea, provides the baseline for these exports, though many Egyptian buyers accept deviation in leaf grade when the liquor strength meets the 3-minute steep test.

Saudi Arabia’s jasmine green surge

Saudi Arabia’s tea imports from China rose 11% by value in 2025, driven by a 27% surge in jasmine-scented green tea. The category — often packaged in 250-gram foil pouches for retail — commands a 22–28% premium over plain gunpowder green. Sourcing for Saudi retail chains demands rigorous halal certification, typically through ESMA standard UAE.S 993:2024, which covers everything from cleaning agent residues to packaging-labelling compliance. In an interview, Sandry Law recalled a January 2026 order of 8,000 kg of jasmine green from Heng County, Guangxi, where the scenting process used seven rounds of fresh Jasminum sambac flowers over 12 days: “The fragrance has to survive six months in a container and still bloom in a Riyadh kitchen — that’s a technical challenge we calibrate for at the procurement stage.”

Category breakdown — green still rules, black climbs

Based on the first-quarter 2026 customs declarations and forward-buying contracts, green tea’s volume share in MENA is projected to edge down to 68%, while black tea climbs to 24%. Oolong, pu’er, and white tea together account for the remaining 8%, but their value share is disproportionately high — 15% of total FOB value — because premium small-lot offerings are entering the Gulf. One striking case is the growth of Lapsang Souchong (Zhèng Shān Xiǎo Zhǒng 正山小种) in Dubai’s specialty café scene, where smoked notes align with hookah lounge culture. Mei Yang, Senior Tea Expert for oolong and black teas, observed during a recent cupping session that “the same caramel-wood character that appeals to European pipe-smokers finds a receptive audience in Sharjah’s specialty coffee houses.” Fuding white tea — specifically Bái Hǎo Yín Zhēn — is also gaining traction in Kuwait and Qatar as a summer cold-brew option; a 2026 shipment of 300 kg from Diantai’s Fuding cooperative cleared at USD 42/kg FOB, highlighting the premium pocket.

Pu’er’s soft landing in the Gulf

Sheng pu’er remains a niche in MENA, but its presence is growing in curated tea boutiques from Doha to Amman. Amgalan Chin, Teamotea’s cross-regional expert, notes that “the dry-heat aging conditions in Gulf cities can accelerate sheng pu’er’s transformation, producing a tea that three years in Doha tastes like eight years in Kunming — a curiosity that attracts collectors.” In 2025, total pu’er exports to the UAE and Saudi Arabia reached an estimated 4.2 tonnes, mostly in 200-gram cakes, up from 1.8 tonnes in 2022. While tiny by volume, the high price points make these shipments worth monitoring for specialty exporters.

FOB price trends by port and destination

Chinese tea export prices to MENA are tracking a moderate upward curve. Average FOB per kilogram for all tea exported to the region rose from USD 4.28 in 2023 to USD 4.95 in 2025, with a forecast of USD 5.15–5.35 for 2026, according to freight-adjusted indices tracked by the China Tea Marketing Association. The price spread between ports is widening: FOB Kunming for Yunnan black tea bound to Jeddah was quoted at USD 4.80/kg in February 2026, while FOB Shanghai for gunpowder green to Casablanca averaged USD 3.65/kg. The differential reflects inland logistics costs — trucking from Lincang to Kunming then rail to Chongqing or sea from Yantai — and the growing demand for origin-registered teas. Organic certification adds 25–30% to the FOB base, a premium that Saudi and UAE importers are increasingly willing to bear. A June 2025 tender by a Riyadh supermarket chain for 40 tonnes of organic green tea attracted bids from seven Chinese exporters, with the winning FOB at USD 6.20/kg — 29% above conventional equivalents. GB/T 19630-2019 (Organic products — Requirements for processing, labelling, marketing and management) governs the organic claim, and auditors regularly inspect Yunnan’s Mengku and Fengqing districts, where smallholder collectives are converting to organic under contract with Gulf buyers.

The organic premium in the Gulf

The organic price gap is most pronounced in the UAE and Kuwait, where per-capita GDP supports a premium of up to 35% for certified tea. Sandry Law’s procurement team recently facilitated a direct-farm contract between a Fengqing estate and a Dubai-based distributor, securing 5,000 kg of organic Diān Hóng at USD 6.80/kg FOB — a price that reflects both the cost of EU-equivalent organic certification (ECOCERT) and the seller’s willingness to hold inventory for post-Ramadan demand spikes. “Gulf buyers plan their tea orders around Ramadan like European buyers plan around Christmas,” Law explains. “We loaded the container on 15 January 2026 so it would clear customs in Jebel Ali by mid-February, giving the distributor six weeks to kit the tea into lavish Ramadan gift sets.”

Logistics, halal certification, and cold chain challenges

MENA-bound tea typically departs from Yantai, Shanghai, or Shenzhen ports, with transit times of 18–24 days to Jeddah, 14–18 days to Jebel Ali, and 21–28 days to Casablanca. The Chongqing–Suez rail-sea multimodal route, operational since 2024, has shaved 7–10 days off Yunnan-to-Cairo delivery times, but uptake remains limited to high-value shipments due to a 40% cost premium over all-sea freight. Halal certification remains the largest procedural hurdle for new entrants. The UAE’s ESMA scheme requires every batch to carry a halal certificate issued by an accredited body (such as the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, or a Chinese authority recognized by the UAE), covering feedstock, processing aids, and packaging. Saudi Arabia’s SASO enforces additional labelling requirements, including Arabic ingredient lists and country-of-origin declarations printed in 14-point font. Exporters that fail to comply risk container rejection, as happened to a Yunnan black tea consignment of 12 tonnes in 2024 when the carton markings omitted “產品含咖啡因” (product contains caffeine) in Arabic. At tea.school, a dedicated three‑module course on MENA compliance helps exporters navigate these regulations — an increasingly popular resource as the trade deepens.

Procurement intel from Kunming

As Head of Procurement for the Teamotea constellation, Sandry Law oversees sourcing for brands that collectively ship over 2,000 tonnes of tea annually, with MENA becoming the fastest-growing destination component. In a February 2026 conversation at the Kunming tea market, he detailed how MENA buyer expectations are reshaping procurement norms. “Five years ago, a buyer from Riyadh would visit, cup twenty gunpowder samples, and choose the cheapest compliant lot. Now, they want to know the village elevation, the picking date, and whether the farm uses drone‑based pest monitoring. It’s a shift from commodity buying to origin‑story buying.” That shift is materializing in contract terms: a Q1 2026 deal with a Dubai wholesaler included a clause requiring batch‑level pesticide residue reports compliant with EU MRLs, even though the tea was destined for Saudi retail, because the buyer wanted to future‑proof against potential Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) harmonization. Another emerging trend is the demand for large‑leaf varietal black tea from Fengqing County, processed with a lighter oxidation (75–80%) to preserve maltiness while avoiding the heavy astringency that MENA consumers equate with low‑quality tea. “We cupped a 2025 autumn flush Fengqing Dà Yè Zhǒng that had a deep raisin‑bread note and zero dryness on the finish,” Law recalls. “The buyer ordered 20 tonnes on the spot.”

2027–2028 outlook

Looking ahead, the China Tea Marketing Association’s baseline projection sees MENA imports of Chinese tea growing at 7–9% annually through 2028, pushing total volume past 104,000 tonnes. The growth will be uneven: Morocco and Algeria are expected to grow at a slower 3–4% clip, as their green tea markets near saturation, while Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait could expand 11–14% as premium segments mature. Emerging categories likely to benefit include aged white tea (Lǎo Bái Chá 老白茶), already finding a foothold in Doha’s wellness‑oriented cafés, and cold‑brew Yunnan green tea in single‑serve sachets, which a Jeddah‑based startup recently crowdfunded on tea.money. One wildcard is the potential for China–GCC free‑trade negotiations to reduce the current 5% customs duty on packaged tea entering Saudi Arabia and the UAE; if enacted by late 2026, the resulting price elasticity could accelerate volume by an additional 3–5 percentage points. However, freight rate volatility and the ongoing Red Sea route disruptions remain risk factors that every exporter’s 2027 contract should address with flexible incoterms. The constellation’s own brands, available via thetea.app and shop.puerh.app, are already positioning for this expansion, with halal‑certified Yunnan black tea SKUs set to launch in August 2026.

References

1. General Administration of Customs of China — Tea Export Statistics 2025 — GACC
2. China Tea Marketing Association Annual Report 2025–2026 — CTMA
3. UAE Halal Certification Requirements for Tea — UAE.S 993:2024 — Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology
4. Interview with Sandry Law, Head of Procurement (China), Teamotea — Internal procurement briefing, Kunming, February 2026
5. Morocco ONSSA tea import data 2025 — Office National de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits Alimentaires
6. Freightos Baltic Index — Shanghai to Jebel Ali container rates, Jan–Dec 2025 — Freightos Baltic Index