History of tea in India Upper Assam; in 1840, the Assam Tea Company began the commercial production of tea in the region, run by indentured servitude of the local inhabitants. [This tea was not for export - dis ambiguities needed] Beginning in the 1850s, the tea industry rapidly expanded, consuming vast tracts of land for tea plantations. By the turn of the century, Assam became the leading tea producing region in the world. India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but recently China has overtaken India as the top tea producer due to increased land availability. Indian tea companies have acquired
Tea production in Sri Lanka missions abroad to give an extra push to the island's 'green gold'". $15 million was funded to promote Sri Lankan brands on international markets during the Iraq war. Later in 2003 the island suffered severe floods in the lower growing tea areas of Sri Lanka. However production still increased slightly by 1.3 percent to in 2004, as the crop recovered. Kenya surpassed Sri Lanka as the largest exporter of tea with an 8.9 percent growth in exports for the year totalling nearly . In 2004 actual tea production in Kenya had increased by more than 11 percent to reach ,