Nepal Tea Industry in 2026: Growth, Export Trends & Global Demand
Nepal’s tea industry: what the data show
Nepal exported approximately 15.6 million kg of tea worth NPR 4.59 billion in FY 2024/25, according to the National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB), citing Customs data. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) later reported that tea exports fell in FY 2025/26. The two findings cover different fiscal years. [1][3]
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Written by: Rupesh Poudel, CEO
Reviewed by: Aayush Poudel, Co-founder
Edited by: Sanjay Puri, SEO Associate
Nepal tea production and employment: the national baseline
NTCDB’s 30th National Tea Day release provides the baseline below. FY 2081/82 (BS) corresponds to FY 2024/25 (AD). [1]
| Measure | Reported figure | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Tea export value | About NPR 4.59 billion | Value of exported tea; Customs data cited by NTCDB |
| Tea export volume | About 15.6 million kg | Tea exported |
| Processed tea production | About 26.1 million kg | Made tea, not fresh green leaf |
| Area planted with tea | 20,602 hectares | Plantation area; not necessarily area harvested |
| Tea farmers | 15,132 | People reported as tea farmers; no registration category defined |
| Employment | Approximately 60,000 | Estimated employment created; no full-time or direct/indirect breakdown defined |
Source: NTCDB, statistical paragraph of the 30th National Tea Day release. [1]
Farmer and employment counts may overlap, so do not add them together. Export value excludes domestic tea sales and does not equal total industry revenue.
How have Nepal’s tea exports changed?
The table draws its first three years from NTCDB’s official historical series and FY 2024/25 from NTCDB’s later press release. The historical source reports value in thousands of NPR; the figures below are multiplied by 1,000 and shown in full rupees. [1][2]
| Nepal FY (BS) | FY (AD) | Export volume (kg) | Export value (NPR) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2078/79 | 2021/22 | 12,494,252 | 3,434,350,000 | [2] |
| 2079/80 | 2022/23 | 16,594,913 | 3,937,266,000 | [2] |
| 2080/81 | 2023/24 | 13,916,034 | 3,625,012,000 | [2] |
| 2081/82 | 2024/25 | About 15,600,000 | About 4,590,000,000 | [1] |
Tea export value rose by approximately 26.6% in FY 2024/25, calculated from the values above. Because the latest value is rounded, the percentage is approximate. It does not imply an equal rise in production or export volume. [1][2]
FY 2025/26: a separately reported decline
NRB’s annual review, released August 26, 2026, explicitly lists tea among the commodities whose exports decreased in FY 2025/26. Without a verified tea-specific annual table, this article assigns no national value or volume to that year. [3]
Kakarbhitta: a border-route report
Nepal News, citing the Kakarbhitta Customs Office, reported the exports to India below for that crossing. These are route-specific figures reported by a secondary source, not national totals. [5]
| Fiscal year | Volume (tonnes) | Value (NPR billion) |
|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 15,311 | 4.1693 |
| 2025/26 | 13,045 | 3.5296 |
Source: Nepal News, August 3, 2026. The underlying Customs-office table was not independently retrieved, and these figures are not combined with the national series. [5]
Which country is Nepal’s largest tea market?
NTCDB identifies India as Nepal’s largest tea export market and calls for market diversification. This article reproduces no percentage because the release does not say whether its share is measured by value or volume. [1]
Organic tea in Koshi: what the NRB study establishes
NRB’s Koshi study reports a provincial inventory of 100 orthodox processing units, including 21 organically certified units. It records 7,838,946 kg of processed orthodox tea in FY 2079/80 (2022/23), with certified output accounting for 11.9%. These are provincial figures, not Nepal’s national organic-tea share. [4]
Source location: printed p. 32, section 4.3.1 and Table 4.20. The detailed factory survey covered 84 units, a sample that differs from the 100-unit inventory. [4]
Certification counts and production shares measure different things. Certified units account for 21% of the inventory, while their reported share of output is 11.9%. These percentages describe different measures.
Farmer economics: revenue, cost and net return
The report’s farmer sample comprises 42 Ilam farmers: 17 certified and 25 uncertified. Tables 4.36–4.37 give group sales, costs and green-leaf output. Dividing each group’s sales and costs by that group’s green-leaf output gives the per-kg figures below. Net return is calculated as sales minus reported costs, divided by output. [4]
| Measure | Sampled certified farmers | Sampled uncertified farmers |
|---|---|---|
| Sales revenue ÷ output | 75.52 | 48.44 |
| Reported costs ÷ output | 45.16 | 24.72 |
| (Sales − costs) ÷ output | 30.36 | 23.71 |
Derived values, rounded only after division. The source prints whole-rupee per-kg figures. See printed pp. 51–52, Tables 4.36–4.37. [4]
These ratios are not unweighted averages of individual farmers’ earnings. The comparison is observational and does not show that certification alone caused the difference. It describes this sample and is not a national income estimate.
What these findings mean for the industry
Market access matters alongside production. NTCDB calls for diversification and stronger food-technology laboratory capacity. Nepal News’s Kakarbhitta report also identifies price changes and quality-testing barriers among the pressures on trade. [1][5]
Certification needs economic context. Any comparison should weigh revenue and costs, the producer group and the reporting period. A higher selling price alone does not establish a farmer’s take-home income.
Export growth is not a forecast. A rise followed by a reported decline shows why one strong year should not be called a permanent trend. Both reporting periods matter when assessing Nepal’s tea outlook.
Questions about Nepal tea statistics
Is export value the same as total tea sales?
No. Export value measures tea shipped abroad. It excludes domestic sales and is not a complete measure of farm or processing income.
Does “organic” describe all Nepal tea?
No. The certification findings cited here apply only to the defined Koshi study scope. A geographic label alone does not establish certification.
Are herbal infusions included in these tea figures?
This article does not add herbal-infusion trade to the tea category used in the source tables. A separate herbal analysis would need its own product definitions and customs classification.
Why does a 2026 article include older data?
Publication year and measurement period differ. Each statistic retains its original fiscal year, and older research is labeled as historical evidence rather than a current national estimate.
Explore Nepal tea
To move from industry context to individual teas, compare origin, ingredients and product descriptions across Danfe Tea’s collection. This commercial link is separate from the data sources below.
Data sources and methodology
- Source hierarchy: national statistics come from NTCDB; the annual direction and provincial research come from NRB. The Kakarbhitta comparison is identified as secondary reporting.
- Scope: national figures, the provincial inventory, surveyed factories, sampled farmers and a border crossing are separate populations. Their totals and percentages are not interchangeable.
- Currency: NPR means Nepalese rupees. Historical source values in NPR thousands are multiplied by 1,000. No currency conversion or inflation adjustment is applied.
- Export growth: (4,590,000,000 ÷ 3,625,012,000 − 1) × 100 = approximately 26.6%. The first input is rounded. [1][2]
- Farmer calculations: certified revenue, cost and output are NPR 2,718,380 / NPR 1,625,525 / 35,994 kg; uncertified totals are NPR 7,963,000 / NPR 4,064,300 / 164,400 kg. Each ratio uses these totals before rounding. Subtracting rounded unit figures can change the last decimal. [4]
- Precision limits: the Trade and Export Promotion Centre (TEPC) workbook proposed as a source of more precise export figures could not be retrieved, so its columns remain unverified. This version keeps the rounded NTCDB release figures rather than claiming an independently checked TEPC value.
- Review: the data review is dated September 28, 2026; reference links and author information were checked September 29, 2026. This is a synthesis of published evidence, not original national field research. Danfe Tea is a commercial tea retailer.
Revision note: fiscal-year labels, source units and farmer-economics labels have been clarified. Undefined market shares and unsupported promotional claims have been removed.
References
Sources were reviewed September 28, 2026; reference links were rechecked September 29, 2026. English title translations are labeled; document locators use printed page numbers unless stated otherwise.
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National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB). ३० औँ राष्ट्रिय चिया दिवस प्रेस रिलिज [30th National Tea Day press release; English title translation]. 14 Baisakh 2083 BS (as displayed). Read source
Primary government release. FY 2081/82 national baseline; statistical paragraph beginning with the FY 2081/82 figures and following market paragraph. The heading and body contain inconsistent event-year text; the statistical paragraph explicitly labels its data FY 2081/82. Employment categories are not defined. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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National Tea and Coffee Development Board (NTCDB). चियाको तथ्याङ्क [Tea statistics; English title translation]. No publication date displayed. Read source
Primary government statistical table. Rows 2078/79, 2079/80 and 2080/81; columns Export Qty (Kg) and Export Value (Rs.,000). Values in thousands of NPR are multiplied by 1,000. The partial-year 2081/82 till Chaitra row is excluded. The official table was rechecked on September 29, 2026 using the working www endpoint; the non-www endpoint returned an error.
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Nepal Rastra Bank. Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal: Based on Annual Data (Mid-July 2026) of Fiscal Year 2025/26. August 26, 2026. Read source
Primary government review. Printed p. 4, paragraph 26, Merchandise Trade. Used for the reported annual direction of tea exports, not a tea-specific national total. Accessed September 28, 2026.
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Nepal Rastra Bank, Biratnagar Office. कोशी प्रदेशमा उत्पादित अर्थोडक्स चियाले राष्ट्रिय अर्थतन्त्रमा पुर्याएको योगदान एवम् आन्तरिक र बाह्य बजारमा यसको सम्भावना र चुनौती [Contribution of orthodox tea produced in Koshi Province to the national economy, and its prospects and challenges in domestic and external markets; English title translation]. Chaitra 2081 BS; published March 2025. Read source
Primary provincial study. Printed p. 32, section 4.3.1 and Table 4.20 (PDF page 42): provincial inventory and output. Printed pp. 50–52, sections 4.4.17–4.4.18 and Tables 4.36–4.37 (PDF pages 60–62): sampled-farmer costs and sales. Printed p. 48 identifies the farmer sample as Ilam. The report text was also checked using the full-report mirror linked below. Accessed September 28, 2026.
Full NRB report mirrored by Taksar News. Primary report hosted on a secondary website; used to inspect the cited tables when the official endpoint was intermittent.
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Nepal News. Nepal’s tea exports down 15% in FY 2025/26. August 3, 2026. Read source
Secondary reporting attributed to Kakarbhitta Customs Office. The article body, rather than its broad headline, defines the figures as exports to India through Kakarbhitta. The underlying Customs-office table was not independently retrieved. Accessed September 28, 2026.
