If your Japanese matcha quotes have lengthened over the past two seasons, or the prices on your renewals have jumped, you are not imagining it. At the same time, you have probably noticed more certified, EU-tested matcha coming out of China. Both facts are real, they are connected, and together they change how you should plan matcha purchasing this year. At Demeter Biotech we grow and mill our own tencha in China, and we lay out the same numbers below — so your decision rests on capacity and specification, not on the flag on the bag.

1. Japan: exceptional leaf, a structural ceiling

Japan’s craft is genuine, and so is its scarcity. Japan harvested 5,336 tonnes of tencha — the shaded, steamed leaf that becomes matcha — in 2024, the highest on record and nearly 2.7 times the level of a decade earlier, according to the Japan Tea Central Association. But 2025 stressed the system: Kyoto, the heart of premium matcha, took in only 460 tonnes of first-flush tencha, about 87% of its 2024 volume, after record summer heat damaged the bushes.

Auction data tell the price story. JA Kyoto’s average first-flush tencha price rose from ¥5,500/kg in 2024 to ¥14,333/kg in 2025, and top Uji lots more than doubled. Two structural facts matter more than any single season. A newly planted tea field needs about five years before its leaf reaches tencha quality, so supply cannot respond to a demand spike within a season. And more than half of Japan’s matcha is exported, so global competition for limited lots is now the normal market condition — not a temporary squeeze.

2. China: the capacity that caught up

China’s matcha output passed 12,000 tonnes in 2025 — roughly 70% of the estimated 17,600 tonnes produced worldwide — up from under 4,000 tonnes in 2020, according to the 2026 China Matcha Industry Report. In 2025, China’s matcha exports also exceeded Japan’s for the first time. Zhejiang province alone produced 8,851 tonnes, with clusters in Guizhou, Hubei and Sichuan expanding behind it.

What matters for you is not the tonnage but what the factories around it now do: shading as a mandatory pre-harvest step, steaming and low-temperature milling lines running to 800–1,300 mesh, and 500-parameter EU-standard residue screening as routine practice at the largest bases. The capability gap that once justified a several-fold premium has narrowed to a short list of specific, checkable specifications.

3. Side by side

Note the units: Japan reports tencha (raw leaf for matcha); China reports finished matcha powder. Figures are industry-reported, from the sources named in the text.

4. What the gap means for your margin

For your product margins, the direction of each market matters more than any single quote. Japanese raw-leaf auctions have reset at two to three times their 2024 level, and those costs flow into every tin and bulk order sourced from that market. Chinese capacity, by contrast, is still being built out — new grinding lines, new cold storage, new certified acreage — which is why lead times and price stability on China-origin matcha have moved the other way. If your range includes an RTD line or a private-label SKU you plan to scale, planning against a market with expanding capacity is a materially different exercise from bidding into a shrinking one.

5. Origin is a starting point — the spec is the decision

None of this means the origin label should decide alone. The agronomy that makes good matcha — shading before harvest, first-flush picking, low-temperature milling — is practiced in both countries, and it is specified, not assumed. Whatever origin you buy from, the same evidence belongs in your file: tencha (not sun-grown powder) as the declared raw material, shading duration, harvest flush, milling method and particle size on spec, a batch-specific COA covering residues, and certifications (USDA, EU organic, Halal) issued by named bodies. We put all of these in writing on our own lots — and we encourage you to hold any origin, including ours, to the same list.

6. How this looks in our supply

Our ceremonial matcha is grown on our own tea gardens in China, shaded before harvest, stone-milled below 40°C, and Eurofins-tested batch by batch (600+ residue parameters), with USDA + EU Organic dual certification and Halal available. Private-label OEM runs from bulk drum to retail tin.

Demeter Ceremonial Grade Matcha (A-10A)

Own-garden, shaded first-flush tencha, stone-milled, Eurofins-tested. USDA + EU Organic dual certified, Halal available, OEM supported — the spec list above, in writing.

View product & spec sheet

Same Powder, Retail Tin Format

Order the 50 g tin as a QC reference and benchmark it against your current Japanese or Chinese supply — color, foam, sediment, and the COA will settle the comparison faster than any origin debate.

Request a sample

7. When you inquire, here are the 3 things we ask

• 1Application — whisked drink, milk-based latte, or bakery? This sets the grade and the compound profile you need.
• 2Certifications & specs — USDA, EU Organic, Halal, plus any particle-size or color target your QC team works to.
• 3Volume & pack — drum, tin, or sachet, and your rollout timeline, so capacity is reserved for your schedule.

Market figures in this article are industry-reported: Japan data from the Japan Tea Central Association and JA Kyoto auction results (2024–2025); China data from the 2026 China Matcha Industry Report (China Tea Circulation Association) and provincial industry reports. They describe market conditions and are provided for orientation only — they are not product specifications. This article describes origin, capacity, and processing only; it makes no claims about effects on the human body. Demeter product parameters are confirmed exclusively by batch COA.