Where rooibos goes

How to read a destination table

The Council reports export volumes by destination country for the ten largest destinations each year. Three things about such a table matter before any number does. The unit is kilograms of rooibos, not the broad customs codes that mix herbal products together. The denominator is that year's total exports; the ten rows do not add up to it, and the rest is unknown here rather than zero. And the geography is where a consignment was sent: the Netherlands and Germany are importer and packer hubs that re-export, so a destination country is not necessarily where the tea is finally drunk.

The totals behind the tables

The Council's sheet puts total exports at 6 552 tonnes in 2013 and 9 760 tonnes in 2024, says rooibos is exported to more than fifty countries, and notes that Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe have featured in the top ten consistently since 2016, a sign that cross-border and intracontinental trade has grown. It gives production of 17 000 tonnes in 2023 and 14 000 tonnes in 2024 and estimates the domestic market at about 7 500 tonnes a year. Its later outlook, published in February 2026, reports approximately 10 930 tonnes exported in 2025 with Japan at approximately 3 606 tonnes, about a third, and a 2025 production estimate of about 15 000 tonnes. These are industry-body statistics about the whole industry; they say nothing about any one farm's shipments, and the market-cycle page is where production, use and stock are drawn together over twenty years.

What a destination does and does not tell a buyer

• It tells you where bulk goes. Japan's share and the European hubs are consistent with a trade in which most rooibos leaves in bulk bags for packing abroad.
• It does not tell you who drinks it. A hub re-exports; a packed product crosses a second border with a brand on it that the Council's table never sees.
• It does not tell you who sold it. No supplier-customer relationship can be read from a country total, and this library infers none.
• It is not a forecast. Each table is one year, from one sheet, and the 2025 headline is a different document; no ranking is carried from one year to another.

The paperwork that goes with a consignment to any of these destinations, the official export standard, the inspection and the documents, is described on the sourcing and export page. The organisations that export, import and pack are in the directory, each with its own attributed claim. Return to the supply chain to see the export stage in its place.