bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Patsy Moy

Lovers of Chinese tea can expect another price increase due to a poor harvest as a result of extreme weather on the mainland since the end of last year. 
Other factors are the growing demand in affluent mainland cities for  top-quality tea, and a strong yuan, which is expected to appreciate more, some of the city's leading tea houses say. 
In  April and July, retail prices of a variety of Chinese teas rose by 30 to 50 per cent. 
LongRun Tea Group  said the price of its pu-erh, would rise by about 10 per cent next year to reflect the poor harvest in Yunnan , which was struck early this year by the worst drought in 60 years. 
Group vice-president Colman Chiu Chun-pong said the best pu-erh was kept for years before being sold so there was usually a time lapse for price increases.
But the retail price of the popular dark tea had already risen by five to 10 per cent this year from last year due to the overall increase in the price of tea leaves. 
He said the extreme weather in different areas across the country had undermined harvests and raised  the cost of tea leaves by about 30 to 50 per cent this year.
But Chiu said his company had increased prices by only about 20 per cent instead of completely shifting the extra cost onto customers.  
Vivian Mak Wai-lan, director of the MingCha tea house, which supplies tea to luxury hotels and targets high-end retail outlets like Seibu, says the overall supply of tea had halved this year.
This, and the strong yuan, would force MingCha to raise the retail price of one of its top teas, Phoenix Oolong, next year by about 23 per cent from HK$260 for 55 grams to HK$320.
In April, the tea house raised the price if its top-grade tea,  Premium Loong Cheng  from HK$1,280 for 90 grams to HK$1,880. Mak said strong demand for Chinese tea in affluent mainland cities had also pushed up the price. 
'Don't think the premium grade tea is mostly for Hong Kong people - this  is no longer the case. Nowadays, mainland customers look for the top-grade items and are willing to pay. To us, the major headache is to source the top-grade tea leaves instead of really being concerned about the price,' she said.
But Mak said the company had taken on  most of the extra costs to avoid upsetting customers. 'Bear in mind that a lot of our customers are hotels, so  we have to keep our price stable,' she said. 
One of the city's oldest and best known tea houses, Ying Kee, is also feeling the pinch. The retail price of its supreme Loong Cheng, a top grade of green tea, has risen 35 per cent from HK$280 for 75 grams to HK$380 since April due to cold weather, frost and snow in Zhejiang  during early March.  
Similarly, the retail prices of rosebud have risen  to HK$80 for 75 grams this year from HK$60 last year. The retail price of  chrysanthemum tea rose from  HK$20 for 75 grams to  HK$30. 
Like MingCha, Ying Kee said it was cautious about raising its price to avoid driving away long-time customers. 'Of  some 50 tea products, we have selected only about one-third to increase the price and hope that we can boost the sales of other products to make up the extra cost,' a  Ying Kee spokeswoman said.
Thomas Woo Chu, executive managing director and general manager of the Hsin Kuang Restaurant chain, said his restaurants had bought up three times the normal stock of tea leaves since early this year once he heard of a possible rise in prices. Pu-erh and Pheony are the chain's most popular teas. 
'Our regular customers who come to have tea and dim sum would easily spot it if we change to a lower grade of tea leaves for a cheaper price, so we insist on not doing so.  Once we heard of a possible rise in tea leaves, we tried to source tea leaves everywhere so that the extra stock could last for another six months to one year,' Woo said. 'Hopefully, tea prices will be stable by then.'
Bitter brew
Supplies are down and costs are rising
At MingCha tea house 55 grams of Phoenix Oolong has risen to HK$320, up: 23%
MingCha's price for 90 grams of Premium Loong is now HK$1,880, a rise of: 50%
At Ying Kee, 75 grams of top grade Loong Cheng has gone up to HK$380, or: 35%



Bad harvest and yuan rise push up price of Chinese tea