Ceylon Tea gets major boost at Cairo International Fair

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Cairo organized a Sri Lanka stall for the second time at the 47^th Cairo International Fair   recently to exclusively promote ‘Pure Ceylon Tea’. This Fair is one of the biggest trade events in the region, attracting leading business delegations and buyers from many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East. The high profile of the Fair provided an ideal platform to introduce and promote Pure Ceylon tea to a wider business clientele in the region.

Tea drinking is an integral part of the Egyptian life style. Hence, the Sri Lankan Embassy decided to highlight the theme: ‘Ceylon Tea at all times’ in this promotional campaign.  Eighty million Egyptians, constituting a single market consume more than 80 million kg of tea annually.  With the strong support of Sri Lanka Tea Board, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Cairo has planned a series of initiatives to promote pre-packed Pure Ceylon tea under the “Lion logo”. The Tea Stall at the Fair is one among these planned initiatives. Declaring open the Stall, Ambassador Sudantha Ganegama Arachchi encouraged the invited businessmen to tap the promising market opportunity available for Pure Ceylon tea in the light of the record-low customs duty prevailing in Egypt. The Stall displayed a wide array of tea samples from twenty two exporters. After holding nearly forty business meetings, twenty five potential buyers were identified. Visiting businessmen were briefed not only about the market potential for Pure Ceylon tea but also on the current economic and political stability in Sri Lanka.  The exporters’ contact details and the Sri Lanka Tea Board’s promotional materials were given to business visitors, and selected varieties of tea were served to them at the Stall.  These business meetings provided insights to design effective marketing strategies for enhancing the market share for Pure Ceylon tea in the future. These insights and suggested strategies will be conveyed to the Sri Lanka Tea Board and to the exporters who provided tea samples to the Stall.

Mr. B.G.P. Jayakody, First Secretary (Commerce) organized the Stall and provided detailed briefings to the business visitors. The Sri Lanka Embassy remains ready to extend every possible assistance to interested tea exporters. If they need more information about the Egyptian tea market, Mr. Jayakody could be contacted on Tel. 00-202-27351381, 00-202-27350047, 00-202-27367138, Mobile 00-201-097074831, Email: egyptcommercial@gmail.com