Do you value that cup of tea?

TEA NANNY

- Aravinda Anantharaman

If you have felt the increase in tea prices recently, it has come about after a difficult year for tea producers. It's not prohibitively high that it deters purchase. And the sad truth is, tea—much of it—is still priced lower than it ought to be because it is sold as a commodity, which is about price and volume.

At the Colombo International Tea Conference last July, there was a discussion on the value of tea and achieving the right price for quality. Dilhan Fernando, chairman of Dilmah Tea, talked about the "mistaken assumption that price and value are equal". Price, he said, is a market-driven construct, whereas value is the sum of so much more.