Jafza based Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), an arm of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), has recorded more than 60% surge in its tea trade in the first half of the year.

The sources said that the total tea trade through the centre reached 4.2 million kilos which is an increase of 1.6 million kilos over the total volume of tea (2.6 million kilos) it handled during the same period last fiscal. In 2008 5.92 million kilos of tea was traded through the Dubai Tea Trading Centre.

The sources further informed that 24,000 square metre DTTC facility, formally established in March this year in Jafza, comprises a 6,000 square metre racked warehouse offering dedicated storage facility to tea manufacturers and traders, a temperature controlled blending, packaging and tea-tasting facility and a dedicated office block to provide office facilities to its members.

The DTTC facility will be in a position to pack 3,000 metric tonnes of tea in tea bags and about 11,000 metric tonnes of loose tea in retail formats annually.

At present, DTTC stocks teas from 13 producing countries viz. India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Indonesia, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Nepal, China and Iran to allow the respective producers and merchants to meet the immediate requirements of the importers in the Middle East and other adjacent regions.