Domestic technical textiles Industry Segment-wise consumption of ...

Tea Bags
Tea bags are sold by organised tea producers to the high-end consumers. Tea bags consist of a filter
paper pouch with a thread, which holds the tea powder and a tag. The tea bag is dipped in hot water /
milk to produce the beverage. The two major marketers of tea bags in India are Hindustan Unilever
Limited (HUL) and Tata Tea Limited.
Product characteristics
Tea bag filter paper is made with a blend of wood and vegetable fibers. The vegetable fiber is
bleached pulp abaca hemp, a small plantation tree grown for the fiber, mostly in the Philippines and
Colombia. Heat-sealed tea bag paper usually has a heat-sealable thermoplastic such as PVC or
polypropylene, as a component fiber (100% non-woven technical textile) on inner side of the teabag
surface. The filter paper used for making tea-bags is a 12-17 GSM non-woven material. The heat-
sealing type tea-bag paper is of 16.5 to 17 GSM approx while the non-heat sealed tea-bag paper is
around 12 – 13 GSM.
Organised Tea market in India
The domestic consumption of tea in India is in excess of 800 million kilograms with a per capita
consumption of around 750-800 grams per annum. Around 45-50% of the tea industry in India is
organised.
Tea Bags market in India
The total size of the organised tea market in India is around 400 million kilograms. The penetration of
tea bags in the country is around 1.5-2% of the organised tea market. Hence, the size of the domestic
tea (sold as tea-bags) market is around 6,900 MT. HUL and Tata Tea are the leading manufacturers of
tea bags in India.
Most of the tea-bags contain 2 grams of tea though some of the bags contain up to 4 grams of tea.
Hence, the total number of tea-bags used in India is estimated as around 3 – 3.5 billion.
Market size of tea-bags filter and future forecast
The consumption of filter paper is around 1.05 kilograms to 1.25 kilograms per kilogram of tea
packed or around 2.1 to 2.3 grams per tea-bag. The price of tea-bag filters has been assumed as Rs
250 per kg.