Tea in Tunisia

2020 IMPACT

Tea consumption increases during the quarantine lockdown

2020 saw the consumption of tea in Tunisia continue to increase despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The category continues to benefit from favourable cultural factors, not least that, traditionally, many Tunisian consumers have been fairly heavy tea drinkers.

On-trade sales negatively impacted by COVID-19 quarantine lockdown

2020 saw a significant slowdown in growth in on-trade sales of tea in Tunisia. Although on-trade sales remain far lower than off-trade sales, drinking tea in the on-trade is a very important aspect of tea culture in the country and for this reason the government-mandated shutdown of the entire consumer foodservice industry had a fairly serious impact on overall sales of tea during 2020, with much slower sales growth recorded over the course of the year.

COVID-19 has no negative impact on off-trade sales of tea

Retail sales of tea continued to increase during 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic; in fact a substantial acceleration in sales growth was registered over the course of the year. The main reason for this positive performance was the fact that people were spending much more of their time at home.

RECOVERY AND OPPORTUNITIES

On-trade sales of tea to continue increasing over the forecast period

The slowdown seen in on-trade sales growth in tea during 2020 is expected to give way to growth rates that are similar to what was registered during the review period as early as 2021. With Tunisia’s consumer foodservice industry expected to be operating at full capacity throughout the year, there is little reason to suggest that demand for tea in the on-trade will not continue rising robustly throughout forecast period.

New varieties to be launched in the category, bringing more diversity

Traditionally, almost all of the tea sold in Tunisia has been one of two main variants, namely black tea or green tea. Generally speaking, Tunisian consumers are not accustomed to consuming other variants of tea and for this reason most category players have traditionally sought to play it safe by sticking to either green tea or black tea.

Growing interest in tea bags as opposed to loose leaf tea

For many years, the high popularity of black tea in Tunisia has been largely based on its low price, which has made it affordable for very many people. However, this applies mainly to loose leaf tea, which is a particularly economical option because it can be used to brew a very strong pot of tea.