BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Production of Georgian-Estonian company Renegade Tea Estate was around one tone of dried tea in 2020, Trend reports via Georgian media.
Since 2017, Estonian investor Hannes Saarpuu produces different types of Georgian tea in the Imereti Region and exports them on the global market. The company Renegade Tea Estate owns three plantations in Tkibuli and Tskaltubo and employs dozens of locals during the summer season.
"Our total investments into the project so far amount to more than 2 million lari ($627,457), split between Georgia and Estonia. We have the production company in Georgia and as our main markets are in the EU and North America, then we have our distribution and sales company set up in Estonia. Most of our tea we sell directly to the customers in our e-shop and it would be very difficult to organize the direct shipping from Georgia. First of all, the shipping rates from Georgia are much higher than they are within the EU and also custom regulations are an issue. So we have solved the problem in a way, that we first send all the tea to Estonia and then deliver it to the customers from there," he said.
As he noted, the planned figure of the company for this year was slightly higher, but the very high average temperatures they experienced in July had a negative impact on the productivity of the plantations.
"In general, our plantations are still very immature after the rehabilitation and we expect our volumes to more than triple in 2021 season. We produce most types of tea – black, green, white. Also, each type we produce in different versions, so all together we had almost 20 different teas in our production this year. We expect this number to stay between 15-20 every year," Saarpuu said.
According to him, the company exports about 95 percent of its production at this point.
"Our biggest markets are Estonia, the USA, Germany, and France, but we have sold high-quality Georgian tea to more than 30 different countries from New Zealand to Brazil. Our work is seasonal. In summer we had some months more than 50 workers, in the winter it will be 8-10. Over the next 3 years we plan to invest another 1 million lari ($313,728) into our Georgian operations to expand our product portfolio and improve infrastructure at our plantations," Saarpuu said.
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