Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian black tea has won anaward at the International Gourmet Tea Competition "Teas of theWorld" recently held by the Agency for the Valorization of AgriculturalProducts (AVPA) in Paris.

This was the product of PT Bukitsari, branded "Bangkit Wangi", fromInterAromat BV as the main distributor and European representative in Paris.

At the event, 113 tea products from 15 countries competed for53 awards.

Besides the product winning the black tea category, Indonesia also sent othersto the competition, including green tea, white tea, oolong clear, darjeeling,oolong moyen, oolong oriental beauty and oolong dark.

The Indonesian Trade Ministry plans to continue diversifying teaproducts to raise their values and competitiveness, in order to expand teaexport markets.

France is the fifth largest tea importer in Europe. According to the 2017 data,the French import value for tea products, with or without taste variant coded HS0902, reached 168.37 million USD.

A total of 25 percent of the value is for premium tea or teaof origin, while the rest is from tea bags purchased at supermarkets.

Last year, Indonesia’s tea export amounted to 117.94 millionUSD, a 1.02 percent increase compared to the previous year.

The country was ranked 13th among the world tea exporters,with 1.32 percent market share of the total global tea exports.-VNA