Tea producer McLeod, others in talks with Alibaba for big China push

A section of large bulk tea producers from Assam, including the world’s largest tea producer McLeod Russel, is holding talks with e-commerce giant Alibaba to explore the option of selling tea online in China and across the globe.

This follows Amazon India’s move to start roping in small tea growers from Bengal for direct selling in the US, Europe and other markets.

Sources said that these bulk tea producing companies are eying both the direct retail platform as well as the online business-to-business (B2B) platform of Alibaba. “China is majorly a green tea consuming country and hence selling green tea there doesn’t make sense. However, there is a section of millennials in China who are now preferring milk tea – this opens the possibility of exporting Assam black tea there,” Azam Monem, director at McLeod Russel, who is currently negotiating with Alibaba, told Business Standard.