Exhibitor

“Empire Teas (Pvt) Ltd is a leading exporter of quality Ceylon teas. With a wide range of value-added products to our global customer base under the brands Hyson, Regalo, Tea Kravings and Mervin, we rank among the top 10 exporters of Sri Lanka with an annual export volume of over 12 million kilogrammes. 2011 marked Empire’s maiden participation in Hong Kong International Tea Fair, complementing the company’s intention to further expand presence in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland through strengthening business with existing partners as well as establishing new business partnerships. The fair gave us an excellent platform to meet our current partners and buyers under one roof as well as introduce our product offerings to other interested parties from different countries. We met over 25 new contacts representing different nationalities including Hong Kong, Chinese mainland, Singapore, Russia, USA, UK, Iran, Egypt and New Zealand who have expressed serious interest in our products. Negotiations are underway and Empire is confident of firm business relationships coming to fruition.

We are happy to comment on the professional level at which the fair was organised, with a special mention on the HKTDC business matching service. We hope to meet even more companies through the service next time. We look forward to seeing more buyers, particularly those from Asia Pacific countries in the 2012 fair.”

Sahampathy Dissanayake, Marketing Manager, Empire Teas (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka

“We love that the Hong Kong International Tea Fair gives us a chance to not only focus on business development with international traders but also reach out to the public audience. The fact that the fair runs concurrently with the HKTDC Food Expo, granting us access to a larger audience including buyers who may not be able to dedicate an entire trip to tea, is an added bonus. At the 2011 fair, we launched a new line of teas, our International Collection, and raised our exposure to overseas distributors as well as more local retail and wholesale channels. Our new products were well received and we successfully broadened our audience base with an expanded range of offerings.

During the few short days, we secured dozens of good contacts from North America and Europe with talks still underway. Traders from East Asia and Southeast Asia also showed positive interest in our teas. We look forward to developing new business in both regional and Western markets.

We’ve been very pleased with the professionalism and attentiveness of the organisers. HKTDC has done a great job providing exhibitors like us with opportunities to interact with our peers, suppliers and potential clients. Fairs like this not only help the industry grow, they’re what make Hong Kong successful as a trade centre.”

Buyer

“Misr mainly imports black tea from India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Indonesia. In Egypt, the popularity of green tea is growing as people get increasingly nature and health-conscious. We visited the Hong Kong International Tea Fair in 2011 to try and tie up with different reliable parties in the Chinese mainland for green tea. We seized the opportunity to focus on studying the pattern of the Chinese tea market and get to know more about the product. We’ve got more than three contacts and a certain quantity of tea products will be procured. The fair has been very well organised with a strong presence of tea companies from India and Sri Lanka. We would like to see the fair expand further with even more exhibitors from all over the world.”

Mahmoud El Nahas, Head, Import Sector, Misr Import & Export Co., Egypt

“The Hong Kong International Tea Fair successfully brought suppliers from the premier tea producing regions together under one roof. This arrangement made it easy for a tea buyer to connect with a wide variety of suppliers. My chief goal of visiting the fair in 2011 was to find new teas as well as new suppliers for existing teas we purchase. I met with five suppliers arranged by HKTDC and got a hold of another five suppliers for potential business development. I also took back samples of a variety of teas we currently do not purchase but may have interest. I have had email conversations with a few suppliers and we’ll see if we can conclude any future business. The tea fair facilities were impressive and comfortably meet all my needs during the fair. I consider the Hong Kong International Tea Fair is one of the best tea fairs in the world. I would recommend this fair to others who need an introduction to Asian teas. Excellent job! ”