Taipei, May 10 (CNA) Tea providers in Nantou County unveiled new packaging for their home-grown "dongding" oolong tea on Saturday that they hope will prevent Chinese customers from buying tea that is incorrectly promoted as made in Taiwan.

Lin Neng-te, general manager of the Lugu Township Dongding Manufacturers Association, presented the forgery-proof packaging for spring dongding tea produced in Lugu before the product hits store shelves overseas.

The 40-year-old association, which represents more than 1,000 local tea farmers, has been selling its tea to China since 1998.

Chinese teas began stealing the association's brand name in 2012, Lin said, citing its top-quality tea as an example of the substantial price gap between authentic and counterfeit products.

The real dongding tea costs about 300 Chinese yuan (US$48) per 600 grams, while a fake product goes for about half the price, he said, adding that the counterfeiting is most serious in China's Shandong Province.

(By Lin Heng-li and Lee Hsin-Yin)
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