Speakers who are well known to World Tea Expo attendees included Bill Waddington, founder of TeaSource, and Dan Robertson, representing the International Tea Cuppers Club (ITCC). Rajiv Lochan of Doke Tea Garden in Siliguri, West Bengal and Waddington addressed the theme of the “World Tea Trader’s Convention: Transformation of the Chinese Tea Industry in the Digital Information Age." Lochan was the first Darjeeling producer to export the famous tea direct to China in 2006. Dan Bolton, managing editor of STiR magazine presented a North American market overview describing new opportunities in the premium tea segment. Satrajit Banerjee, deputy director of tea promotion at the Tea Board of India, Dhanushka Karunarantne, secretary of tea promotion at the Sri Lanka Embassy in Beijing and Sushil Rijal, managing director of the Kuwapani Tea Plantation in Nepal, reinforced ties in tea trading. India exported 4.37 million kilos of tea to China last year.
The co-located International Buddhist Items & Crafts Fair spanned 1.2 million square feet (115,000 square meters), making it the largest religious craft exposition in the world. Over time, several thousand monks made their way from the incensed halls with statues and prayer beads to the tea stalls. Traditional tea ware was displayed at about one third of the stands with about two-thirds of the floor devoted to tea. The largest tea companies erected big displays but most stands were small and packed with goods.
In 2016 the Tea Fair exhibits were evenly divided between tea (38%) and teaware (32%) with 23 percent of those exhibiting from tea packaging and design firms. An analysis of visitors found 38.2 percent were tea producers and processors and 32.2 percent were tea wholesalers and retailers. Packaging professionals made up 13 percent of attendees. The design and packaging exhibits drew designers and brand consultants (.4%) and raw material suppliers (5.5%) of attendees. Fifty-seven percent of attendees are from mainland China. Taiwan brought the largest trade delegation and attracted about 16 percent of visitors. Major tea producers including Sri Lanka and India were represented along with Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Korea. One stand marketed its “western tea” with floral and fruit blends and herbals on display, but most of the enormous variety of wares and teas are crafted for the domestic market and offered by local and national suppliers. During the weekend, consumers covered the trade floor. Trade professionals generally attend during the first two days of the event.
