Rajith De Mel appointed Managing Director Van Rees Group

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Rajith De Mel (48) has been appointed the new Managing Director of Van Rees Group. Van Rees Group, celebrating its 200 year’s anniversary this year, is one of the few leading global suppliers and processors of tea and headquartered in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). He will take up his new duties and responsibilities as per 1 July 2019. At present, Rajith De Mel is Managing Director of Van Rees Ceylon in Sri Lanka.

Tea Time Magazine

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Sri Lanka, which lies just 19 miles off the southeastern coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, boasts an impressive legacy of tea production, which began in 1867 when it was a British colony known as Ceylon.

Its success in tea came about largely because of misfortune in its coffee industry. Savvy businessmen like Scotsman James Taylor snapped up lands at low prices that were once home to productive plantations but that lay fallow because of a blight that obliterated the coffee bushes. They planted them with tea bushes instead, which thrived in the island’s tropical climate that allows a year-round harvest. During the ensuing 150 years, popularized by companies such as Lipton, Ceylon tea became a globally recognized brand—so much so that the name was retained even though the country gained its independence from Great Britain in 1948 and had come to be known as Sri Lanka by 1972.

Van Rees established in South India

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As of February 1st Van Rees Group B.V. has taken over the activities of Container Tea and Commodities in Coonoor, India. The new entity is named Container Tea Van Rees Trading Pvt Ltd and is dedicated to the marketing of teas from a consortium of top quality Nilgiri gardens. The company, which has been successfully built up over the past 30 years by Mr. Indrajit Chatterjee, has been committed to the promotion and export of these high quality teas globally.

Indrajit will be staying on in the coming years to guide the company through the transition to a new management and to ensure continuity of the existing business.

We believe this new step further strengthens the Van Rees Group network and will be critical to service both our existing and new clients around the world even better. Please contact our Coonoor office to receive more information about high quality teas ranging from orthodox leaf types, Fair Trade Organic teas, CTC PF1&PD as well as EU compliant green teas. All estates are Rain Forest Alliance Certified, some received UTZ and Trustea certifications too.

Contact details Container Tea Van Rees Trading Pvt Ltd

Van DOW JONES NIEUWSDIENST

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DJ Theehandelaar Van Rees: thee is terug in de beleving, mondiale theemarkt in de lift.

AMSTERDAM (Dow Jones)–Theehandelaar Van Rees Groep (VRG), onderdeel van handelshuis in specerijen, noten, thee en voedingsingredienten Acomo nv signaleert dat thee met de aandacht voor gezondheid en duurzaamheid weer helemaal terug is in de beleving. De komende jaren voorziet VRG dan ook een gestage groei van de mondiale theemarkt, alleen al op basis van de verwachte groei van de wereldbevolking.

Het Algemeen Dagblad

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Geen theeblad hetzelfde.

Thee is tijdloos en alomtegenwoordig. Waar ook ter wereld besteld: de kans is groot dat de Rotterdamse handelaar Van Rees bij een willekeurig kopje thee betrokken is geweest.

Van Rees participates in the Malawi Tea Revitalisation Programme 2020

Van Rees is proud to announce that we signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and thereby declared our intentions to support the Malawi Tea Revitalisation Programme 2020. This large-scale industry programme has the objective to achieve a competitive industry where workers earn a higher living wage and smallholders are thriving.

Malawi is an important tea origin for Van Rees and has been for a long time since we opened our office in Malawi in the early 1970’s. Currently Van Rees is one of the main buyers of Malawi tea in the weekly auction. The tea from Malawi is not only important for our business but also provides a livelihood for the many tea workers, smallholders and their families. Various companies in the tea industry have acknowledged that the living wages in Malawi are relatively low and strive to act on it.

[foto] During a panel discussion at the biggest conference on tea sustainability, Team Up 2015 Pushing the Boundaries, several programme participants discussed the opportunities for Malawi. Managing Director of Van Rees Group, Maarten Obbink, stated that this ambitious programme is broadly supported and hence an opportunity for the industry to really achieve an impact. Every company has its own role in the supply chain and we have to work together to make it a success.

Signing the MoU is therefore only a first step for Van Rees. Together with our partners we will work on practical initiatives that will contribute to realizing an improved living income for workers and smallholders. We look for opportunities that will fit our role as a trader in tea. As a bridge in the supply chain Van Rees brings together needs from customers and producers which can also help supply chain collaboration. In September a meeting will be held with all stakeholders where more concrete roles and steps are defined. Van Rees is eager to use its market knowledge to give feedback to producers from around the world that hopefully will help them become more competitive versus other producing countries and achieve higher price levels. Other areas of focus will be in support of replanting, marketing structures and logistics.

Van Rees believes that only an industry that creates value for all its actors will remain successful in the future and hence will be truly sustainable. We are very proud of our role in this programme and will look forward to work together with all signees of the MoU.

Reducing energy and improving working conditions in Sri Lanka

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Following the example of our blending facility in Dongen, The Netherlands, the tea blending facility in Colombo, Sri Lanka made adjustments on the roof so more daylight can come into the facility. To make maximum use of the daylight we also adjusted the working hours. These adjustments saves energy and improves the working conditions of the people working in our facility.

We see this adjustment as a small step but one in the right direction to become more efficient in the own operations.