INDIA – Second World Tea & Coffee Expo ends with a positive note; attracts 4100 business visitors from India and abroad

MUMBAI – The 2nd edition of World Tea & Coffee Expo, India’s only International trade show dedicated to the Tea and Coffee Sectors ended successfully on 13th September 2014 with positive reviews from exhibitors and visitors alike. The Expo, held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India from 11th Sept till 13th Sept 2014, offers the only trade platform in India for the hot beverage industry for networking, business expansion and ideas exchange.
“Around 40 Indian and foreign exhibitors participated in the expo, which attracted over 4,100 business visitors from all parts of the country and many from foreign shores,” said Ms Priti Kapadia, director of Sentinel Exhibitions Asia Pvt. Ltd, the organisers of the event. The expo witnessed striking of bulk deals, joint ventures/alliances, franchise enquiries, appointment of marketing agents and generated a large number of business enquiries.
This 3-day Expo showcased products, machineries and technologies from Indian and international companies related to Tea, Coffee and allied sectors. On display were Tea and Coffee brands in addition to tea/coffee vending machines, machinery, exotic and new-age products like Lemon tea, White tea, Anti-Diabetes Tea, Slimming Tea, Certification bodies, National and International Boards etc. Visitors included decision makers comprising of retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hypermarkets/multi-product retail chains, tea/coffee estate owners, hotels /airline and food and beverage professionals, many of whom placed large orders with exhibitors.
This unique event was inaugurated by Dr. Liu Youfa, the Consul General of China in Mumbai who remarked that, “There is a great scope for bilateral trade in the Tea and Coffee sectors between India and China as both the countries are big producers and consumers of hot beverages and both the Asian giants are witnessing significant lifestyle changes.”
Ms. Saroja Sirisena, Consul General, Consulate General of Sri Lanka, who also graced the inaugural session said, “India and Sri Lanka can share their natural advantage to increase bilateral trade in the tea and coffee sectors. Trade platforms like this have the potential to make easier for countries to do business with each other.” Eminent personalities Mr. R C Agarwal of FAITTA and Mohani Tea Leaves Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Suresh Kotak of Kotak Commodities Ltd., also graced the expo with their warm presence and shared their valuable ideas.
Ms. Aparna Kulkarni from Neel Beverages Pvt. Ltd., one of the exhibitors said, “We are into ready-to-drink beverages offering various types of teas such as Ice Tea, Lemon Tea etc which are convenient to carry, store and use. Participating in World Tea & Coffee Expo gives an exposure at national and international level with our potential clients coming to meet us at a single location rather than us having to travel everywhere to meet them. I am very happy to be a part of this show as an exhibitor.”
Mr. R C Agarwal of Mohani Tea Leaves Pvt. Ltd. (an exhibitor) added, “We are very strong in North India and participation at this expo gave us an opportunity to meet potential clients and business partners from across India.”
In the words of Mr Enrico Tedesco, of Teamac Srl Italy, “India is a market of over 1 billion people and this platform gave us an opportunity to present our state-of-the-art machinery to Indian tea companies.”
Mr Sumit Shah of Madhu Jayanti International Ltd (an exhibitor) stated “We used this platform to launch a new product here which has been very well received. The expo has far exceeded our expectations in terms of quality and quantity of visitors.”
World Tea & Coffee Expo thus fulfilled the need for an organised event for Tea and Coffee Companies in India to come together to showcase their products, network, share learning and experiences and find suitable solutions to the industry’s problems. Workshop and conference gave the event vibrancy and a knowledge sharing avenue. International participation was from Italy, Australia, UAE, Rwanda, and Switzerland. The organisers are planning to make the 3rd edition of World Tea and Coffee Expo (WTCE) much larger in terms of content and size and are likely to announce the dates very soon.