Global matcha boom sends Japan green tea exports sharply higher
Customs data show shipments jumped 42 per cent in fiscal 2025 as demand lifted export value to 84.7 billion yen, while cheap imports pressured local growers.
- Japan's green tea exports surged in fiscal 2025, with volume increasing by 42% and the total value more than doubling to 84.7 billion yen.
- The increase was driven almost entirely by a global boom in demand for matcha, as powdered green tea accounted for about 70% of total export volume.
- The trend has caused a shift in domestic agriculture, with farmers increasing production of 'tencha' (the raw material for matcha) while exports of other varieties like 'sencha' have fallen.
Japan’s green tea exports climbed sharply in fiscal 2025, powered by a worldwide surge in demand for matcha, even as cheaper overseas tea placed growing pressure on domestic producers.
Customs-cleared trade statistics released by the Finance Ministry on Tuesday showed that green tea exports reached 13,125 tonnes in the year that ended in March, a 42 per cent increase from the previous year.
Export value more than doubled, rising 2.2-fold to 84.7 billion yen, as prices soared amid stronger international demand.
Powdered green tea, including matcha, made up about 70 per cent of total export volume. By contrast, shipments of other green tea varieties, including “sencha,” fell from a year earlier.
The government sees green tea as a major force behind exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food, supported by the popularity overseas of matcha-flavoured drinks and desserts.
Although overall domestic tea production has been edging down, output of “tencha,” the raw material used to make matcha, increased for four straight years through 2024. Rising unit prices for tencha have encouraged some growers to move away from sencha, long the sector’s core product.
At the same time, Japan imported 5,801 tonnes of green tea from China and other countries in fiscal 2025, up 82 per cent from the previous year.
Teikoku Databank Ltd., a Japanese research company, said the number of domestic tea producers that temporarily or permanently shut down in 2025 hit a record 13, compared with eight the year before.
The shift is difficult for many farms. Around 40 per cent of tea plantations are in hilly or mountainous areas, and the farming population is ageing. Tencha also requires a different manufacturing process from sencha.
“We want to promote the healthy growth of the Japanese tea industry,” an official at major Japanese green tea beverage maker Ito En Ltd. said, stressing the need to speed up efforts to strengthen production foundations and brand power.
