Tejari and DTTC to launch online global tea trading portal

Under terms of the agreement, Tejari will develop an online trading platform to facilitate the international commercial activities of the Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), a subsidiary company of Dubai Metal and Commodities Center (DMCC). Delegates at the forthcoming Global Tea Forum will get the first look at the prototype of the new Tejari-based tea trading online forum.

This international tea trading enterprise - which will eventually include a centrally located warehouse through which tea of various origins will pass - will utilize Tejari to enhance its regional and global reach, opening up new markets and affirming Dubai's growing status as an international centre of trade.

"Tejari has gained in-depth expertise in growing and maintaining regional online trading portals. The tea trade portal will provide DTTC with a user friendly internet-based trading platform to all tea related organizations to showcase their products and services, create trade leads to buy and sell, identify new partners in different countries and to use the messaging capability to communicate with other companies,"

said Omar Hijazi, Chief Executive Officer of Tejari.

"The creation of initiatives such as the DTTC tea trade portal is likely to increase the value and volume of tea traded in and through Dubai significantly," he added.

"This partnership with Tejari will highlight our tea storage, blending and trading capabilities to an international audience," said Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chief Operating Officer, DMCC

"Given that restrictions on a number of regional tea markets participating in international trade are likely to be lifted over the next few years, our agreement with Tejari is significant in providing Dubai with an early opportunity to substantially strengthen its role as a focal point for all future commercial activity in the tea sector," he concluded.

The Middle East and adjacent regions account for approximately 25% of global tea imports and according to industry insiders. DTTC plans have already won the enthusiastic support of tea manufacturing participants from three of the world's leading tea exporters - India, Sri Lanka and East Africa.

The Tejari-enabled DTTC portal, which will only be accessible to its members, will facilitate the round-the-clock cataloguing, sample requesting, and purchasing of tea stocks, putting the buyer in direct contact with the plantation broker / trader and therefore allowing for a greater degree of transparency.