Ha Noi(VNA) - Viet Nam expects to earn 200 million USD from exports of 120,000 tonnes of tea by 2010, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

To this end, the country plans to expand the current acreage of 125,000ha under tea tree cultivation to 150,000ha by the time. Thus, the annual output of fresh tea bud is also expected to increase from 577,000 tonnes to 870,000 tonnes during this period.

In addition, the tea sector has encouraged all economic branches to build around 100 new tea processing establishments, each capable of processing 12 tonnes of tender tea leaves per day. It also plans to improve the quality of and diversify tea products for export.

The Viet Nam Tea Association (Vitas) forecasts that the volume of packaged tea exported to Russia will account for 30-50 percent of Viet Nam's tea output over the next three to five years, up 20-30 percent from the present./.