ABC Australia’s Sri Lanka documentary 

ABC Australia’s Foreign Correspondent series recently broadcast a programme called ​‘A Bitter Brew’ focusing on the challenges faced by Sri Lanka’s tea industry and its workers. These accounts were not an easy watch. We strongly believe that everyone in our supply chains should be able to know and claim their rights and have access to decent livelihoods.

We encourage people to speak out wherever they find issues so we can work together to take action, working with our partners and suppliers to support positive change in the industry. We value the role that ABC has played in raising awareness of some of the deep-rooted challenges found in the Sri Lankan tea sector.

The programme covered a number of themes including wages, working and living conditions (including housing and sanitation), the price of tea in the global market, and the role of certification. We know that there are no quick fixes to these challenges, but we’re committed to playing an active role in improving the livelihoods of tea workers and their communities and creating a sustainable tea sector for the future.

We don’t buy a lot of tea from Sri Lanka. In fact, of the 32 million kgs we bought in 2024, Sri Lankan tea only made up 0.2% of that. None of that goes into our main Yorkshire Tea, Yorkshire Gold or Proper Strong tea bag blends. It is in Yorkshire Gold loose leaf and Taylors of Harrogate Ceylon. 

At Taylors we have built an approach to sourcing with a strong focus on long-term relationships, enabling us to work closely with producers to build a more sustainable supply chain. Taylors Sourcing Approach, or TSA, aims to protect the livelihoods of those who work to produce our tea and their communities, as well as making sure you get a proper, quality brew. We also partner with organisations like the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) on sector wide initiatives such as living wage, in order to address issues as an industry for greater impact.

Sri Lanka is a complex region in terms of how tea is sold. It’s mainly through auction, from approved estates via an agent, meaning it’s really hard for us to build the strong, direct relationships with producers that TSA relies on. We buy from a limited number of estates producing high quality tea that are Rainforest Alliance certified.

Rainforest Alliance is a baseline requirement for our tea but we know audits and certifications aren’t the whole answer. We also go further with our approach to human rights due diligence and will keep working with Rainforest Alliance to help evolve their standards.

When documentaries like ABC Foreign Correspondent expose issues in supply chains, some companies will make the decision to immediately stop trading with the producers. This can be damaging to the workers involved, so our approach is to work with the supplier to understand what’s gone wrong and why. Next, we look to develop actions to respond to the challenges, working with expert partners and producers themselves. Only in the case that we are unable to bring about impactful change would we consider a responsible exit.

We encourage transparency and are proud to publish our supplier lists, so people can bring any concerns directly to us. Transparency means we can investigate any concerns fully and share responsibility for improving standards. The documentary makers have chosen not to share information about the estates they’ve visited, but we are talking to our partners, including the Rainforest Alliance, to determine what action we will take.