Vietnam is estimated to ship abroad 31,000 tons of tea worth 30 million U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, posting respective year-on-year surges of 25 percent and 21.4 percent.

Export prices of local tea stood at some 1,000 dollars per ton in the period, four percent lower than the average of 2005, according to the Vietnam Tea Association (Vitas) on Tuesday.

Vietnam is focusing on improving tea processing techniques, increasing the quality of products and intensifying trade promotion.

The country, home to 600 tea production enterprises including 234 export ones, exported 89,000 tons of the products valued at 100 million dollars, mainly to India, Japan, the United States and Iraq last year, down 10.2 percent in volume, but up 4.6 percent in value over the previous year, according to the Vitas.

Source: Xinhua