Yakutia may have a new export item: the region intends to establish supplies of lvan-tea to foreign markets. The first customer may be a company from Japan.

To date, Russia has never sold such tea to other countries under the B2B system.

Already now the Japanese firm Japan GreenTea has shown interest in the tea produced in the north. Thus, in the summer of 2019, the president of the company came to Yakutsk to see personally all the stages of production of the beverage in the extreme climate. As a result of the visit, a preliminary agreement on cooperation was signed.

However, the document contains a condition to conduct clinical trials. That is, to export Ivan-tea to Japan, it must meet the phytosanitary requirements and food standards of this country.

Only the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow conducts such research in Russia. The cost of the work is 8 million rubles, said Vasily Afanasyev, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the region.

Before determining the sources of funding, it is necessary to understand whether such costs will pay off. "A lot will depend on how much Ivan-tea Japan is ready to buy. If it is small, then the question arises as to whether such substantial costs are worth it. But if we're talking about a hundred tons a year, then we can talk about gathering, harvesting and processing of wild-growing crops as Yakutia's new export industry," the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper quotes Afanasyev as saying.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Ksenia Gustova