Third Lam Dong Tea Culture Festival 2010 to be held in Bao Loc city

Hanoi (VNA) - The third Lam Dong Tea Culture Festival 2010 will be held in Bao Loc
city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong from Dec. 25-27 to promote
the trademark and potential of the country’s tea industry.

According to Bui Thang, Bao Loc People’s Committee’s Chairman and head of the
festival’s organising board, the highlight of this year’s festival will be a
night to celebrate Bao Loc city’s B'lao tea brand which has been around for
decades, and honour outstanding tea growers.

During the festival, a seminar on measures and conditions for the development of
Vietnam ’s tea sector, a tea products exhibition, a tea drinking night and a
parade will take place.

Vietnam now ranks fifth in tea exports in the world. The country’s tea
products are present in 110 countries and territories.

In 2009, Vietnam earned 178 million USD from export of 133,000 tonnes of tea, a
year-on-year increase of 21 and 27.3 percent in value and volume, respectively.

The country expects to ship 120,000 tonnes for 200 million USD in 2010.

Tea growing and processing started in Bao Loc in the 1930s. The acreage for tea
trees makes up 50 percent of agricultural land in the locality.

The city gains an annual output of 72,500 tonnes with a revenue of 500 billion VND
(25 million USD), equal to 20 percent of the local industrial production
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