Taking place in Las Vegas from March 27-29, the World Tea Conference and Expo is the largest annual gathering of the global tea industry. Bringing together suppliers, merchants and other industry professionals, World Tea Expo welcome speakers, guests and exhibitors from around the world, including traditional tea strongholds China, India and Japan as well as Kenya and Sri Lanka.
As the following chart, based on data from Statista Consumer Market Insights, shows, China is not only the largest exporter, but also by far the largest market for tea in the world. Including sales for in-home and out-of-home consumption valued at retail prices, the Chinese tea market is estimated at almost $100 billion, more than six times the size of second-ranked India with total sales of $15.7 billion. Japan, the United States and Brazil round off the top five, with the latter likely included due to the popularity of mate in large parts of South America.