Organic is the watchword for tea growers

"For some time we blindly followed what other places were doing," Hong says. "We sold beauty-slimming tea, health-preserving tea, whatever was popular in the market."

Changes came in the early 1990s when China adopted the concept of green food and standardized trademarks and certification accordingly. In 1996, 53 hectares of tea-growing areas in Wuyuan Dazhangshan were given the green food trademark, the first of its kind in China's tea industry.

In 1997, Wuyuan green tea appeared at a trade fair in Frankfurt, and eventually the company sought certification for its products in the European Union, which was granted. In the same year Hong's company received an order for 200 kilograms of organic green tea from Germany; the following year the order was for 600,000 kg. Other tea companies in the county then gradually built connections with overseas markets. Hong says his organic tea plants cover 600 hectares, of which he exports about 1,000 tons a year, about 80 percent to Europe, and the rest to the US.

Hong, who graduated from Wuyuan Tea School, says that in the early days Wuyuan growers were so ignorant of the tea industry outside China that they had no idea of how much to charge.

Yu Guangzhong, president of Wuyuan Xitou Organic Tea Co, Ltd, says that with China's very strong tea culture, tea is ideal for expensive gifts that symbolize status, meaning there are many people willing to spend thousands of dollars on a kilogram of tea.

Prices for tea leaves, depending on matters such as whether it consists of one bud or two, or what time of year it is picked, differ widely. However, cut tea is considered valueless in China, Yu says.

"At first, many people thought Westerners were richer, so they sold them the highest-quality tea, which turned out to be a mistake.

"Most Westerners use tea bags holding cut tea as long as they are deemed healthy. So the tea usually costs dozens of yuan a kg. They also like to mix tea with things like fruit and ginger."

Yu has 133 hectares of organic tea bushes. Their export value is put at about $3.2 million. About 80 percent of his products go to the EU and the US, and the rest to Australia and Southeast Asia.

The European market has been steady in recent years, but orders from the US have been rising about 20 percent a year, Yu says. But successfully switching to organic growing and marketing is not easy.

For one thing, many countries require producers to obtain special certification to market food as organic within their borders, so it needs to be produced in a way that complies with organic standards set by national and international organizations. "So to sell organic tea, the garden, the processing and the final products all need to meet organic standards and get certification from the target market," Yu says.

However, for Wuyuan land that is unpolluted and suitable for growing organic green tea, an essential ingredient in receiving such certification, is limited. While more farmers are adopting modern agricultural methods, chemical fertilizers have been used in some areas, putting the air and soil in surrounding areas at risk.

The Wuyuan government is now offering 3 million yuan a year in subsidies to encourage farmers to stop using fertilizer and switch plantations to organic growing, but making that transition takes at least three years.

Huang Tong, president of Wuyuan Z. G. S. Tea Industries Co Ltd, says he has been forced to raise pay 15 percent a year to keep workers. Certification costs, in the tens of thousands of yuan a year, are also a heavy burden for many tea farmers and companies.

Wuyuan has more than 500 tea companies, and dozens are planting tea using organic methods, but only about 10 companies receive organic certification in a year.