ITO EN is strengthening ties with tea-growing regions and has established a new company built on its 50-year tea-growing-region development business. It is promoting the preservation of Japanese tea culture through measures including the GI mark, labeling indicating 100% domestically produced tea leaves, and the launch of a special website.
ITO EN has indicated that it will strengthen ties with tea-growing regions to address issues including the global matcha boom and the shrinking domestic production base. Supporting this effort is its long-running “tea-growing-region development business.” The company also disclosed the establishment of a new company, 伊藤園グリーンファーム.
As measures to protect the future of Japanese tea, the company plans to apply “100% domestically produced tea leaves” and the “Japanese Tea” GI mark to its products, and is proceeding with the launch of a special website providing related information. These form part of a range of initiatives aimed at preserving Japanese tea culture.
Although Japanese tea exports have expanded approximately 11-fold over the past 20 years, the production base for Japanese tea as a whole is still viewed as facing a downward trend. Against this backdrop, the strengthening of ties is attracting attention as a future development.