DUBAI: The Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), a division of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), yesterday announced the launch of a centralised tea storage, blending and packing facility, as part of its expansion plans to accommodate the growing activities of the centre.
The 23,000 square metre facility will also include office space for tea businesses, and is planned to be fully operationally by early 2008. The centre’s expansion will further help boost the volume of tea traded through Dubai, according to DTTC officials.
Chief Executive Officer, DMCC, David Rutledge, said: “The DTTC has made a significant contribution to the establishment of Dubai as an international hub for tea trading. Dubai’s total tea trade in the first two months of this year touched 18.3 million kilos, up from 16.2 million kilos during the same period in 2006. Trade through the DTTC in multi-origin teas, reached 2.1 million kilos during the first quarter of 2007, compared to 1 million kilos for the same period last year.”
Dubai’s total tea trade was a record 105.5 million kilos in 2006, up from 96.6 million kilos in 2005. In the same period, 4.3 million kilos of multi-origin teas were transacted through the DTTC, almost doubling the trade figures for the previous 10 months. Rutledge continued: “The DTTC, which was established in 2005 and began operations in March of the same year, has had a major impact on the existing trade, and has considerably increased the volume of trade in multi-origin teas through Dubai. This expansion is the result of the growing market demand for a centralised one-stop hub, which will provide a variety of value-added services to the tea trade in the country.” A noteworthy addition to the existing capabilities of the DTTC, the new facility will offer dedicated individual storage space, free storage for 60 days, and temperature-controlled blending and packing facilities for a wide range of teas under one roof.—Agency