If you searched for the top tea exporters in Sri Lanka, you probably wanted a list — so here's the honest one, further down, names and reported figures included. But we're going to be upfront about something first, because it will save you a bad decision: the largest tea exporters in Sri Lanka are almost certainly not the "best" ones for you. The biggest names move commodity volume by the tens of millions of kilos. If you're building your own brand, or need custom blends, organic lines, or smaller runs, the company at the top of the revenue list may be the worst possible fit — and the right partner might not appear on any "top 10" ranking at all.
So this guide does two things. It gives you the actual list of the largest and best-known Ceylon tea exporters, drawn from trade data — not our opinion. And it shows you how to read that list, so "top" turns into "right for my brief" instead of just "biggest."
We're a Sri Lankan exporter ourselves. We're not on the revenue leaderboard below, and we'll explain exactly why that's the point — on our own terms, without talking anyone else down.
The Top Tea Exporters in Sri Lanka (by reported export value)
Sri Lanka has more than 3,000 active tea exporters registered with the Tea Exporters Association, whose members account for over 85% of the tea leaving the country. A handful of them dominate the value rankings. These are the names you'll meet again and again while researching — reported by trade-data aggregators and the companies' own disclosures (figures vary by source and year, so treat them as scale indicators, not audited accounts):
- Akbar Brothers — the largest Ceylon tea exporter by value, a position it has held since 1992. Reported around US$160 million+ a year, operating at very large commodity and branded scale.
- Dilmah (Ceylon Tea Services / MJF Group) — the island's most internationally recognisable consumer tea brand, built by one family from a bulk background into a global retail name.
- Uniworld Teas — a major bulk and blended supplier, reported in the US$44–46 million export range.
- Empire Teas — similar scale, with a reputation for value-added and flavoured teas.
- Anverally & Sons — an established exporter (~US$36 million reported) with both bulk and branded lines.
- Stassen Group — a long-standing exporter (~US$34 million reported) spanning bulk and value-added product.
- Mabroc Teas (a Hayleys Group company) — notable for a specialty and organic focus rather than pure bulk volume.
- George Steuart Teas — one of the oldest mercantile houses in the country, tracing back to 1835.
- Jafferjee Brothers — a long-established, diversified tea trader and manufacturer.
- Basilur Tea — known internationally for specialty and decorative gift-packaged tea.
That's the leaderboard. Now the part most "top 10" articles leave out.
Why "largest" isn't the same as "best for you"
Three thousand exporters is not three thousand companies competing for your order. The market sorts into tiers, and the tier decides the fit far more than the ranking does:
Bulk / commodity-scale exporters. Moving tens of millions of kilos a year through the Colombo Tea Auction, supplying blenders, packers and large retailers on volume and price. This is where the biggest numbers in the list above come from — and where the minimums are largest.
Consumer-branded exporters. Companies selling their own finished, branded tea to shoppers rather than supplying it in the background.
Heritage mercantile houses. Trading companies with roots in the colonial auction era, some over 150 years old, with deep broker and export relationships.
Specialty & private-label manufacturers. Smaller, more focused operations built around custom blending, organic lines, OEM and private-label production, and specific formats (tea bags, pyramids, gift tins, ready-to-drink). If you're building your own brand rather than buying commodity bulk, this is the tier you want — and the "top 10 by value" list is mostly the wrong place to look.
Here's the practical version. If you need a container of bulk BOP at the best price, go straight to the top of that list. If you need 5,000 units of a custom-blended, organic-certified, privately-labelled pyramid tea for a new retail brand, the biggest exporters may decline the run or price it as an afterthought — and a mid-scale specialist will treat it as the main event. Matching the tier to your brief is the whole game. Ranking is a distraction once you've done that.
Where Samley fits
Now our own cards, face up — not on the leaderboard, and deliberately so.
Samley Teas was founded in 2015 and sits in the specialty and private-label tier. We blend, pack and export Ceylon tea to 25+ countries, with a production base of roughly 490 million tea bags a year across four formats — double-chamber, single-chamber, pyramid and pot bags — plus around 15,000 MT of blending capacity and a growing ready-to-drink beverage line. That's a genuine mid-scale manufacturing operation run by people who care about the detail.
What we're built for is brands that want a responsive partner: private-label and OEM development, blends tuned to a specific market's taste, elevated packaging, and fast sampling and turnaround when you're bringing a range to shelf. Our operations are backed by FSSC 22000, FDA registration, USDA and EU Organic, SEDEX and Fairtrade. And because we think it matters: 60% of our workforce, including managers, are women, and 1% of sales revenue goes to a fund for plantation-worker families' education. We'd rather earn your first order by being easy to work with and honest about what we do than by claiming a spot on a list we don't belong on.
If you already know you want a responsive private-label partner rather than a bulk-commodity account, the quickest way to judge us is to put us to work: tell us your brief and request samples, and we'll come back with blends, formats and honest MOQs. The rest of this guide is here whenever you want the full picture first.
What actually separates a reliable exporter from a risky one
Whichever tier you're sourcing from, this is the filter that matters. Certifications are the least glamorous thing on any exporter's website and the most important to check — because unlike "leading" or "premium," they're independently auditable:
- FSSC 22000 / ISO 22000 — food-safety management audited against a global benchmark: hygiene, traceability, documented process control.
- FDA registration — required to export food into the United States; confirms the facility is listed with the U.S. regulator.
- USDA Organic / EU Organic — required to legally market a product as "organic" in those regions, verified through supply-chain separation and audit.
- SEDEX / SMETA — social-compliance auditing of labour conditions and ethics, increasingly demanded by major retailers before onboarding a supplier.
- Fairtrade International — verifies fair trading terms back through the chain, relevant if your own customers care about sourcing ethics.
The single best test for any exporter, us included: ask for actual certificate numbers and current audit dates, not logos. A genuine operator produces them without friction.
Ceylon tea grades and formats, in plain terms
Sourcing conversations get technical fast. A quick map so the vocabulary doesn't slow you down:
Grades. BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe) and BOPF (Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings) are common mid-to-fine grades used in both bulk and tea-bag production. OP (Orange Pekoe) is a whole-leaf grade prized for looks in loose-leaf retail — the sort of leaf that anchors our own Signature collection. Pekoe and FBOP sit at other points on the leaf-size and quality spectrum. Grade alone doesn't equal quality, though — elevation and region matter just as much (the regional character breakdown explains why).
Formats. Most exporters offer some mix of bulk (loose/sack), private-label finished tea bags across chamber types, retail cartons and tins (our Gift collection is one example), and increasingly ready-to-drink formats — our own iced tea range included — for brands expanding beyond dry tea.
How the export process actually works
Across most established exporters the shape is similar: an enquiry specifying market, format, volume and required certifications; a proposal with suitable blends, formats and indicative minimum order quantities; physical samples and firm pricing; production with quality checks at each stage; then shipping with full documentation (certificate of origin, certificate of analysis, commercial invoice, packing list), usually quoted FOB Colombo or CIF to your port. First orders take longer than repeats, because sampling and packaging approval only happen once.
Challenges worth naming honestly
A supplier who tells you about these upfront is more trustworthy, not less:
Auction and price dependency. A meaningful share of the trade still runs through the Colombo Tea Auction, so pricing carries some commodity-auction volatility even on finished goods.
Batch consistency. Tea is agricultural — flavour and grade vary by season and estate. Good exporters manage this through blending skill and batch-level QC rather than pretending variation doesn't exist.
Currency and logistics exposure. Pricing is usually USD-denominated, but freight, shipping disruptions and destination-currency swings all move your landed cost. Worth discussing openly rather than assuming a quote is fixed forever. (Our look at the Russia trade is a live example of how much the plumbing can matter.)
Compliance complexity, especially for organic or destination-specific rules (the U.S. and EU in particular) — which is exactly why certification questions belong early in the conversation, not after a contract.
Some context: why Sri Lanka still matters as a tea origin
Sri Lanka is currently the world's fourth-largest tea exporter, behind China, Kenya and India, having slipped from third in 2024 as India's output grew. In 2024 the country exported 245.5 million kg worth about US$1.436 billion, and Ceylon tea's share of global exports has held steady at roughly 13%. What the country has that raw scale can't buy is the Lion Logo — a Sri Lanka Tea Board trademark, registered internationally since 1978, granted only to tea that is 100% Ceylon-grown and packed within Sri Lanka. It's the reason "Ceylon tea" still reads as a mark of quality more than 150 years after the industry began. (If you're curious how it started — with a failed coffee crop and a stubborn Scotsman — that's a story worth reading.)
Frequently asked questions
Who are the top tea exporters in Sri Lanka? By reported export value, Akbar Brothers is the largest (and has been since 1992), followed by names like Dilmah, Uniworld Teas, Empire Teas, Anverally & Sons, Stassen, Mabroc, George Steuart, Jafferjee Brothers and Basilur. Figures vary by source and year, so treat any ranking as a scale guide rather than exact accounts.
Who is the single largest tea exporter in Sri Lanka? Akbar Brothers, generally reported as the largest by export value (around US$160 million+), a position it has held since 1992 — well ahead of the next tier.
What is the "best" tea exporter in Sri Lanka? There isn't one universal answer, and any company that claims to be it is overselling. The best exporter is the one whose tier matches your brief: a bulk-commodity house for large volume at price, a specialty/private-label manufacturer for custom, branded, or organic runs. Match the tier first; the ranking matters far less.
How many tea export companies are there in Sri Lanka? More than 3,000 active exporters are registered with the Tea Exporters Association, whose members account for over 85% of the country's tea exports — though most operate at a fraction of the top handful's scale.
What certifications should a top Ceylon tea exporter have? At minimum: FSSC 22000 or ISO 22000 for food safety, FDA registration for U.S. imports, and USDA/EU Organic if sourcing organic. SEDEX/SMETA and Fairtrade matter if your customers care about supply-chain ethics. Always ask for certificate numbers and audit dates, not just logos.
How do I find and vet Ceylon tea exporters as a new buyer? Start with the Tea Exporters Association member directory and Sri Lanka's Export Development Board listings, then request certificates, samples and references directly rather than relying on website claims.
Samley Teas is a certified, mid-scale Sri Lankan manufacturer built for brands and buyers who want a responsive private-label partner rather than a bulk-commodity account. If you're weighing up a sourcing decision, the fastest way to judge us is to put us to work: tell us your brief and request samples, and we'll come back with blends, formats and honest MOQs — no "leading exporter" talk, just tea you can taste.