Xishuangbanna (西双版纳) will hold the 2026 Pu'er Tea Expo and Trade Fair (普洱茶博览交易会) from November 20 to 23 in Jinghong (景洪), the prefecture's main city. Organizers announced the dates at a press briefing in Jinghong on the morning of November 13. About 180 companies have signed up so far, and the show runs under the theme "Colorful Yunnan, World Tea Origin" (七彩云南·世界茶源), Yunnan's provincial tea brand.
The expo at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Dates | November 20–23, 2026 |
| Venue | Xishuangji (OCT) shopping mall (西双记（华侨城）商场), Jinghong |
| Host | Xishuangbanna Prefecture Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau |
| Organizer | Xishuangbanna Tea Industry Development Service Center |
| Exhibitors | About 180 companies registered; planned booth space over 2,000 m² |
| Teas on show | Pu'er, black, green and white tea, plus tea drinks, tea foods, teaware and tea machinery |
Invitations went to 17 chambers of commerce in the prefecture, Yunnan's 7 main tea-growing regions, 7 buyer groups and associations, and 9 national tea associations. Exhibitors move in from November 16 to 18.
What is planned
- Opening and closing ceremonies
- A launch of tea-tourism routes under the "Twelve Ancient Tea Mountains" (十二古茶山) name, plus a market with the same theme
- A launch event for new pu'er teas
- Displays of ethnic minority intangible cultural heritage
- A social media check-in campaign with small gifts for visitors
Booths are free for exhibitors this year, which lowers the cost for small tea companies. The prefecture is also putting 200,000 yuan into consumer vouchers. Shoppers claim them online, and they come in three tiers: 50 yuan off 200, 100 yuan off 300, and 300 yuan off 1,000.
New figures on Xishuangbanna's tea industry
The briefing also gave an update on the prefecture, which includes Menghai (勐海) and is one of the core growing areas for pu'er. The 2025 figures:
- More than 1.43 million mu of tea gardens (about 95,000 hectares)
- Total tea industry output value of 51.6 billion yuan
- 73,000 tonnes of dry maocha (毛茶, the unrefined raw tea), across all tea types
- 430,000 tea farmers, with average per-person income of 17,800 yuan
- 685 tea companies with a food production license (SC), the most of any prefecture in Yunnan
On protection of old trees, officials said 1,265 ancient tea trees have been tagged one by one, 164 signs have been placed at ancient tea gardens, and 2,436.23 hectares have been set aside as protection and control zones. Menghai County was named in China's first group of pilot counties for eco-friendly, low-carbon tea, and it is the only county in Yunnan on that list.
The briefing also noted a shift in products. Twenty-six of the larger tea companies in the prefecture now make fast-moving goods such as tea bags, ready-to-drink tea and flavored pu'er, and some supply leading Chinese tea-drink chains directly.
What this means for pu'er drinkers
- Watch for new releases. The program includes a launch event for new pu'er teas. Details had not been announced at the briefing, so the full picture will come after November 23.
- One prefecture, a lot of tea. 73,000 tonnes of maocha in a single year shows how much tea comes out of the pu'er heartland. With that much supply, origin, tree age and processing still tell you more than the word "pu'er" on a label.
- Old trees are being counted and marked. Tagging single trees and marking protected zones gives a clearer record of where ancient trees stand, which is a useful base for checking "ancient tree" claims over time.
- Pu'er is moving into everyday formats. Tea bags and bottled pu'er reach new drinkers. Loose-leaf and pressed cakes remain the way to taste how a tea changes from one infusion to the next.
Keep it in perspective
This is a regional fair mainly for Chinese buyers and local shoppers, and the vouchers apply in China only. The exhibitor count was a pre-show figure and may change. The industry numbers come from the prefecture's own briefing and were not independently audited. We have not seen a list of the new teas to be launched, so we can't say what they will be yet.
If you would like to taste what Menghai and the wider Xishuangbanna area produce, our raw pu'er collection is a good place to start.
Source: "2026年普洱茶博览交易会将于11月20日在景洪市举行", The Paper (澎湃新闻) Yunnan, November 13, 2026; report by Shao Weirui and Zhang Wenyan via Sohu, November 13, 2026. Summary and plain-language interpretation by Chen Sheng Tea. Featured image: a 2016 Lao Ban Zhang raw pu'er cake from Chen Sheng Hao (陈升号), the Menghai producer behind our teas, shown as an illustration. Photo: Chen Sheng Hao (陈升号).
