Exports of green tea from Japan hit 8,798 tonnes last year, 10 times the amount that was internationally shipped 20 years ago. Powdered tea, predominantly matcha, accounted for 58 percent of the total, stoked by high global demand for the green beverage. Tea farmers in the country are reluctant to change business operations that have been running for decades, if not centuries, so the industry does not scale up in production in ways you would ordinarily see. Production of green tea is, in fact, down over the past two decades, so supplies of matcha are particularly tight this year. Overall, U.S. buyers accounted for 44 percent of shipments of Japanese powdered tea.
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