This month's coverage tells two stories at once: a shrinking domestic tea base and an export boom pushing prices to historic highs. Cultivation area and production have fallen by roughly a third since 2005, even as green tea exports hit a record 12,612 tons and tea exports nearly doubled year on year.

Meanwhile the matcha world has gone global and gone Chinese: China now supplies around 70% of world matcha production even as 'Made in Japan' commands a steep premium. First-flush and tencha prices are doubling or tripling at auction, squeezing buyers just as international demand peaks.

The stats

Copy any line — each figure is credited to the outlet that reported it, compiled by Matcha Wire.
  • Japan's green tea exports hit a record 12,612 tons in 2025, according to Asahi Shimbun Digital. source ↗
  • Japan's tea exports reached approximately 720 billion yen in 2025, roughly double the prior year, according to PR TIMES. source ↗
  • Japan's tea exports totaled 364 billion yen in 2024, according to PR TIMES. source ↗
  • matcha production growth: 6x, according to news.yahoo.co.jp. source ↗
  • China now accounts for 70% of global matcha production, according to Yomiuri Shimbun, according to yomiuri.co.jp. source ↗
  • The global matcha market is now valued at 1.2 trillion yen, according to news.yahoo.co.jp. source ↗
  • Tencha prices hit 13,910 yen per kilogram, up 2.3 times year on year, according to news.yahoo.co.jp. source ↗
  • Japan's agricultural and livestock export value topped 4 billion yen for the first time, according to news.yahoo.co.jp. source ↗
  • Made-in-Japan matcha now commands a 4.5-times price premium, according to smartnews.com. source ↗
Tea Cultivation Area Shrinks
Japan's tea fields have shrunk by a third in two decades, a structural decline behind this year's price spikes.
Data: Asahi Shimbun Digital · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
Tea Production Falls
Output has dropped a quarter-million tons short of 2005 levels, tightening supply as demand climbs.
Data: Asahi Shimbun Digital · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
Shizuoka's Tea Economy Collapses
Shizuoka's tea output value has fallen to under a third of its 2000 peak.
Data: Asahi Shimbun Digital · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
Powdered Tea Exports Quadruple
Powdered tea exports have nearly quadrupled in seven years.
Data: Asahi Shimbun Digital · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
Japan's Tea Exports Nearly Double
Export value nearly doubled in a single year, per PR TIMES.
Data: PR TIMES · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
The Biggest Multiples of the Season
From tea leaves to matcha exports, prices and volumes are moving in multiples, not percentages.
Data: fnn.jp, newsdig.tbs.co.jp · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
First-Flush Prices Double
First-flush prices doubled both in Kagoshima and nationwide this spring.
Data: Minami-Nippon Shimbun, news.yahoo.co.jp · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
Exports Outpace Imports
Japan still ships far more green tea abroad than it brings in, even as imports rise fast.
Data: Asahi Shimbun Digital · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)
China Dominates Matcha Production
Seven in ten matcha bags on earth now originate in China.
Data: yomiuri.co.jp · compiled by Matcha Wire Download data (CSV)

Together the numbers describe an industry stretched between scarcity and surge: fewer hectares, less tea, but record exports, doubling auction prices, and a matcha boom that Japan no longer controls alone.

Methodology

All figures are drawn verbatim from 72 tea-trade articles published in June 2026, with no recalculation, rounding, or unit conversion.