Wagh Bakri Tea Group enters UAE market

DUBAI: India's largest privately held tea company plans to enter the UAE's retail market.

Wagh Bakri Tea Group has appointed a local supermarket chain as its UAE distributor. The company, with a turnover of $65 million, sells over 20 million kgs of tea worldwide each year.

Already catering to 300,000 outlets across India and operating in major markets such as the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Japan, the company hopes to expand its operations in the Arab and African regions with Dubai as a base.

"In the next five years, we will set up a teabag machine in one of the free trade zones in Dubai. We will cater to the entire Arab and African region here," said Parag Desai, director, Wagh Bakri Tea Group.

The company recently purchased a $13.6 million tea bag machine from Italy. The machine can make 250 staple-free teabags a minute.