The Sri Lanka Tea Board participated in the HORECA Expo in Ghent, Belgium from 17 to 21 November 2019. Ceylon Tea Pavilion was organised by the Sri Lanka Tea Board together with the participation of three companies namely the Basilur Tea Export (Pvt) Ltd., HVA Foods PLC and Gemi Teas Colombo (Pvt) Limited. Sri Lanka Mission in Brussels facilitated Sri Lanka’s participation at the Expo in Ghent.
The Ceylon Tea pavilion was opened by Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Belgium, the European Union and Luxembourg Grace Asirwatham.
Belgium imported 13 million Kgs of tea in 2018 including intra EU trade of which Sri Lanka exported 3.6 million Kgs. Sri Lanka is the largest black tea exporter to Belgium. At the Ceylon Tea pavilion in addition to black tea, flavoured tea, green tea, herbal tea, gift tea and tea syrup were promoted. Tea tasting opportunities were also provided for the potential buyers of tea. The Embassy also organised business match making meetings for the Sri Lankan companies participated in the Expo to expand their contacts and find new buyers.
This was the first time Sri Lanka has participated in an Expo in Belgium to promote Ceylon Tea and it is expected that Sri Lanka Tea Board will continue to participate in such Expos in Belgium to increase Ceylon Tea exports especially value added tea such as tea syrup and ice tea to Belgium.
