INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF FIRST KUANFU TEA SHOP IN MAURITIUS THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2015 GRAND BAIE LA CROISETTE AT 14:00 HOURS

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1 INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF FIRST KUANFU TEA SHOP IN MAURITIUS THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2015 GRAND BAIE LA CROISETTE AT 14:00 HOURS His Excellency, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Chinese People s Republic in Mauritius, Mr LI LI The owner-director of Mauristea Investment Company Limited, Mr Hailun Kuanfu The Director of Agri-Business Cluster at the Board of Investment, Mrs Jeetah Members of the Chinese Business Chamber Representatives of Public and Private Sector Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen I am indeed greatly pleased and deeply honored to be in this midst this afternoon to associate myself with such an innovative initiative steered by Mr Kuanfu in his quest to revamp economic interests in the Mauritian Tea Sector. At the outset, it is perhaps opportune to have a quick recall on the itinerary of tea cultivation and development of the tea sector in Mauritius. According to our records, introduction of the first tea plant in the country dates back to the French colonial era and was pioneered by Pierre Poivre in the 1770s. 1

2 But it was only about half a century later, under the British rule, that real attempts were made to exploit tea as an economic activity and importation of Chinese labour was authorized by the British Government to develop and consolidate local capacity in tea processing operations. One would surely note here, the intrinsic link which unites the People s Republic of China and Mauritius since that date in the development of the tea sector. Today s function undoubtedly testifies that the link is getting yet stronger. From distant past to present times, the fate of our tea industry has been systematically subject to whims and trims of sugar prices on world market. Tea has always had the second role behind king sugar and gaining interest only at times of falling price of exportable sugar. It goes without saying that in fact it was the world economic crisis of the 1930s coupled with accruing drastic fall in sugar prices which effectively kick started the first campaign pressing for urgency to diversify our agricultural economy from sugar. This campaign stimulated investment initiatives from the public as well as the private sector and vast extent of sugar cane lands were converted to tea plantations especially in the super humid localities of Bois Cheri, La Flora and Nouvelle France. Though rather slow at the early stage, however, the tea sector in Mauritius gathered momentum and developed at rapid pace at post-independence era primarily as means of mass employment creation and poverty alleviation. 2

3 Expansion of tea plantations equally drove public and private investments in organizational structure. So that at one point in time, Mauritius was endowed with a well-structured tea industry comprising: 1. A Tea Board to control marketing and production operations; 2. A Tea Station at Wooton for research and development; and 3. The Tea Development Authority to establish tea plantations and manage the public tea sector to the benefits of small holders. At its peak stage, in the mid-1980s, the Mauritian tea sector accounted for 3,710 hectares of established tea plantations, nine licensed tea factories producing around tons of black tea annually, of which, tons were exported generating export earnings equivalent, at that time, to Rs 250 million. Unfortunately, ever increasing rise in our costs of production, coupled with our incapacity to re-engineer in time the sector and bringing in innovative inputs had gradually dwindled our competing capacity on the world tea market. These constraining factors slowly but surely led to economic disinterest and systematic disinvestment in the sector until irreversible closure of the public tea sector at the turn of the century. Consequently, about hectares of established tea plantations on State Lands were uprooted and the land released for diversification to sugar cane and other food crops. 3

4 Today, our tea sector accounts for no more than 672 hectares of tea plantations and an annual production of around tons manufactured by only 3 factories, of which, 50 to 60 tons are exported annually yielding a mere Rs 13 million as export earnings. Looking backward at reasons and underlying factors which had led to disinvestment in the sector may have economic, academic or even political interests, but not help much in charting the future of our tea sector. As Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, I view the tea sector with particular interest and I made it a point to have the sector emphasized as a key area for intervention in my forthcoming Strategic Plan for the non-sugar sector. I want the sector to be revived, modernized and provided with sufficient capacity and resources so that it can respond to ever-increasing opportunities of the world tea market. A quick glance at current world trade statistics on tea would amply support and justify this stand. FAO statistics on tea trade for year 2013 indicate that 1.77 million metric tons were exported for a total value of 5.7 billion USD. Trade forecasts further reveal steady rise in annual demand at the rate of 3% for black tea and more than 7% for green tea. Kenya and Sri Lanka are current world leading exporting countries with metric tons and metric tons respectively. 4

5 It is pointless to recall here that tea is the oldest and also the most consumed beverage in the world. It has been consumed for more than to years in china and according to ancient records; the earliest use was probably for medicinal purposes. It is perhaps this medicinal virtue of tea that Mr Kuanfu has cunningly opted to exploit in his venture to gain competitive edge over promoters who are aggressively pushing conventional and aromatic tea on the market. Mr Kuanfu firmly believes in the quality and virtue of the Mauritian tea which he confidently qualifies as being the best tea in the world. He has developed a new blend of ripe black tea with our Mauritian tea and has introduced new ways of consuming and marketing of tea in Mauritius. He is a very determined entrepreneur. For the last three years, he has been thriving hard to force his way through a rather skeptical environment with a bold mission of reviving the local tea industry and convince every one of the feasibility of his venture. I am fully convinced that he will spare no effort to surmount all barriers to achieve his goals. Mr Kuanfu, I wish to congratulate you for your innovative initiatives and reassure you of my wholehearted support in this challenging journey. 5