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Specialty teas drive tea market, sales nearly double by 2012 |
11.16.2007
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ROCKVILLE, Md.--The market for instant, leaf, liquid concentrate and ready-to-drink tea is expected to heat up over the next five years, growing to nearly $15 billion in sales in 2012 from an estimated $7.4 billion this year, according to a Packaged Facts report released earlier this month.
Of that growth, specialty tea, including higher quality, organic and fairly trade tea, is projected to make up half of all tea and ready-to-drink tea sales in the United States by 2012--a 14 percent increase from its current market share of 36 percent, according to the Nov. 1 report titled "Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea in the U.S."
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While a few large tea companies and their brands--Crystal Light and Lipton--dominate the tea category, it is the entrepreneurial specialty tea players that are moving and shaking up the tea business, according to the report. While these companies may be low in sales dollars as compared to the tea giants, their innovation and rapid expansion make them ripe targets for acquisition.
Driving specialty tea sales is its diversity and touted health benefits. Healthy lifestyles among baby boomers as well as expanded tea sales in coffee shops are major influences, according to the report. Tea houses are also coming to the forefront, with more than 2,000 in the United States today, up from 200 in 1990. Continued growth in that category is predicted, with the number of tea houses expected to increase 15 percent annually for the next five years.
This report can be purchased for $3,000 by visiting www.packagedfacts.com. Packaged Facts, based here, is a market research firm.
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