I. Basic Information of the Standard 

The recommended national standard GB/T 46114-2025 "Technical Specifications for Tea Supply Chain Management", drafted by Huangshan Xiaozan Tea Industry Co., Ltd. and other entities, was officially released on December 2, 2025 and will come into effect on April 1, 2026. 

This national standard is under the jurisdiction of the National Tea Standardization Technical Committee (SAC/TC 339), and the competent authority is the All-China Supply and Marketing Cooperative Federation. 

II. Background of Standard Development 

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of tea. According to statistics, by 2025, the area of tea plantations in China will exceed 53 million acres, with a total output value of approximately 330 billion yuan, and the overall scale of the tea industry chain will be about 1.13 trillion yuan. The tea industry has become an important pillar industry for increasing the income of farmers and promoting rural revitalization in some regions. 

However, the development mode of China's tea industry is rather simplistic, with a low level of industrialization. The original competitive advantage gained through low costs and rapid expansion is rapidly weakening. The management models of traditional tea enterprises urgently need to be improved. 

Supply chain management, as an advanced quality management measure, can effectively promote the high-quality development of enterprises and industries: From the perspective of a single enterprise, it can achieve competitive advantages by improving the relationship between upstream and downstream supply chains, integrating and optimizing the information flow, logistics, and capital flow within the supply chain; From the perspective of the entire supply chain, it requires that each node enterprise share information, bear risks together, and coexist in interests, thereby truly realizing strategic management throughout the entire process. 

However, due to the numerous distinct characteristics of the tea industry, there is currently a lack of supply chain management standards suitable for the tea industry in our country. Therefore, it is urgent to formulate the "National Standard for Tea Supply Chain Management Technology". 

III. The Purpose and Significance of Standard Development 

Carrying out tea supply chain management is an important way and inevitable choice to promote the modernization and transformation of tea enterprises and achieve high-quality development. Moreover, the standardization of tea supply chain management plays a significant foundational supporting and leading role in ensuring the quality level of the tea supply chain, improving the efficiency of tea supply chain management, reducing the cost of the tea supply chain, and facilitating the growth and expansion of Chinese tea enterprises. 

This national standard adopts unified, simplified, optimized and coordinated standardization principles and methods. By analyzing, summarizing and condensing the successful practices and experiences of enterprises in the supply chain management of various links such as procurement, processing, packaging, storage, transportation and distribution, and sales, it forms relevant technical, management and control requirements. Thus, it enables tea supply chain enterprises to achieve the goals of improving efficiency, controlling costs and ensuring stable supply, filling the gap in domestic related standards and having significant importance. 

IV. Main Contents of the Standards 

This national standard consists of 12 chapters. The core technical content includes "4 General Provisions", "5 Supplier Selection and Management", as well as following the relevant policies and regulations of supply chain management and national standards, combined with the characteristics of tea enterprises, and setting up 6 chapters successively according to different links of the tea supply chain: "Procurement", "Processing", "Packaging", "Storage", "Transportation and Distribution", and "Sales". Each clause lists detailed technical requirements, and the standard users can refer to and implement them. The following is the interpretation of the key clauses: 

4 General Provisions 

4.1 System: The supply chain is a system. Supply chain management also needs to adopt the system principle to achieve global optimization of the supply chain from a systemic perspective. The core idea is to no longer view each enterprise and each department in isolation, but to consider all related internal and external entities, such as suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors, and to view the entire supply chain as an integrated and interconnected whole. Based on this, three systematic overall requirements have been proposed; 

4.2 Collaboration: The supply chain is an alliance formed by related enterprises to adapt to the competitive environment. Each enterprise should seek win-win mutual benefits through collaboration. It is required to conduct information communication in areas such as planning, production, quality, and cost, and to exchange and assist in areas such as funds, product development, and human resources. Based on this, four overall requirements for collaboration are proposed; 

4.3 Win-Win: Supply chain management emphasizes achieving the optimal performance of the entire supply chain through collaboration among enterprises, thereby enabling each node enterprise to pursue profits and achieving a win-win situation for all enterprises. Based on this, four overall requirements for win-win situations are proposed. At the same time, the formation and management of the supply chain mainly revolve around the core enterprise, so the concept of "core enterprise of the tea supply chain" is used. 

5 Supplier Selection and Management 

5.1 Selection and Review: This includes document review and on-site review, as well as the review contents. 

5.2 Management of Qualified Suppliers: This includes summarizing and specifying advanced practices of enterprises such as incentive systems, performance evaluation and classification, and irregular audits. Among them, classifying and adjusting suppliers can enable differentiated and dynamic management of suppliers. 

5.3 Continuous Improvement: This includes specific measures such as regular mutual visits and the establishment of a risk management system. 

6 Purchasing 

6.1.5 This is a suggestive clause, stipulating that the supplier is capable of guaranteeing a 20% fluctuation in the planned purchase volume, ensuring the stability of raw material supply. 

6.1.9 For seasonal products such as green tea, it is recommended that enterprises purchase 80% of the total seasonal raw materials in advance, in order to achieve the goal of stable production and stable supply. 

6.2.1 - 6.2.5 all revolve around the procurement plan and inventory levels: It is necessary to formulate a reasonable procurement plan and appropriately increase the storage quantity and inventory level of raw materials to cope with the rise in raw material prices when the market changes; it is necessary to strengthen inventory management to avoid waste and reduce costs; it is necessary to simplify the types of raw materials to reduce costs. 

6.2.6 It is required that processing be carried out promptly after purchase. In principle, it should not take more than 8 hours. Otherwise, the quality of the processed product will deteriorate. However, adjustments can be made appropriately based on the type and characteristics of the tea. 

7 Processing 

7.1.2 The enterprise is required to simplify its product categories, control the quantity of the smallest inventory units, and develop a series of products. This will not only enhance the brand effect and benefits, but also reduce waste caused by inconsistent product packaging. 

7.1.4 The term for the advanced processing of tea "single-stage processing, multi-stage recovery, and one-time shaping" means that raw tea materials of the same grade and with similar quality are processed together. They are fed into the production line at one time, and then through sieving, different grades of semi-finished products are selected. There is no need for repeated refinement, and the blending can be directly carried out. This can maximize the utilization of raw materials, reduce process repetition and raw material loss. 

7.2.1 The enterprise is required to comprehensively consider various factors to ensure the inventory buffer quantity. This is to be able to cope with unexpected situations such as suppliers' inability to supply goods in time or raw material supply disruptions, as well as sudden increases in orders and changes in the market. Specific quantitative reference indicators are provided as "25%-50% of the projected sales volume in the next 4 weeks". 

9 Warehousing 

9.1.1 Encourage enterprises to use intelligent transmission equipment during the process of material entry and exit. Such equipment is highly applicable and can avoid the inconvenience caused by incompatible equipment, as well as reduce the idle time of the equipment. 

9.1.2 It is required to classify and store the materials according to their categories, characteristics and storage requirements. This will enable quick identification of the materials, facilitate quick entry and exit, and thereby enhance the efficiency of warehouse operations. 

9.2.4 It is required to conduct at least one warehouse inspection per month. During hot and rainy seasons, the warehouse inspection should be conducted no less than twice per month. 

9.2.5 It is proposed to set a reasonable inventory turnover frequency (the ratio of sales cost to average inventory), which reflects the ability of inventory to be liquidated and the cycle of funds occupied by the inventory. This number should neither be too high nor too low. A quantitative reference indicator of "more than 4 times" is provided, but it is not applicable to black tea, white tea and other types of tea that can be stored for a long time. 

9.3.2 provides a quantitative reference indicator for inventory: "For tea products with a shelf life of less than 18 months, the inventory of tea raw materials should not exceed the sales volume." 

"20% of that amount", this way can maintain an appropriate inventory level, avoid product overstocking, and ensure the stable supply and smooth operation of the enterprise. 

10 Transportation and Distribution 

10.2.3 and 10.3.1 both require that enterprises should collaborate with at least 2 and more transportation and delivery service providers. This not only helps to mitigate the risk of a single service provider failing to provide services on time, but also enables effective cost control through multiple price comparisons and the signing of claim settlement agreements. 

10.2.5 It is proposed that enterprises should fully utilize reverse logistics (the logistics activities triggered by the movement of goods from the downstream to the upstream of the supply chain) to save costs. Enterprises can implement this based on actual circumstances. For example, raw tea from area A can be transported through logistics to area B, and during reverse logistics, the products in area B can be transported to the distributors in area A. 

11 Sales 

11.3.1 provides a quantitative reference indicator for the annual inventory-sales ratio of enterprises, stating that it should be "controlled below 25%". Due to differences in the types of tea the enterprise mainly produces, its cash flow and payment methods, the inventory-sales ratio varies significantly. During the actual implementation, enterprises can formulate a reasonable inventory-sales ratio based on the characteristics of the main tea types they produce. 

11.3.6 For enterprises mainly engaged in tea products with long shelf life, it is recommended to adopt the "annual order system", where distributors place orders with the enterprise on an annual basis, make payments in advance, and the enterprise then produces and delivers the goods in batches. This approach enables a zero inventory stocking model, which can relieve the enterprise's financial pressure and promote a healthy circulation of funds.