Morocco Emerges as Top Importer of Chinese Tea, Consuming 25% of China’s Exports

Among the factors that have allowed China to achieve this performance, the South China Morning Post cites the "Belt and Road Initiative" launched by the Chinese government "to expand abroad in search of growth opportunities."

"Jinli Tea" located in the city of Lichuan is one of the companies that has benefited from this initiative. It has in particular set up a subsidiary in Morocco. The same source indicates that "Jinli now operates 5 packaging lines in Morocco with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons of tea, after investing $8.2 million in the country since late 2015."

According to Jinli’s executive director, Wang Qimao, the Moroccan subsidiary has generated about $9 million in revenue. "Our main products are still for export. So we went to Morocco and thought we should penetrate the West African market through the country," he added. Out of 364,742 tons of tea shipped abroad by China last year, 77,562 tons ended up in Morocco.