Anxi, a county-level city in Fujian, is widely known for producing Tianguanyin, a variety of premium oolong tea. [Photo/fj.people.cn]

As a cradle of tea, China is still one of the largest producers of the world's most widely consumed beverage, according to Liu Hong, a Fujian deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.

China produced roughly 2.557 million tons of tea in 2017, ranking it among the top 10 countries and regions in the drink production, Liu revealed, on the sidelines of the annual legislative session in Beijing on Tuesday.

The figure also represents average annual growth of 8 percent over the past eight years.

The tea grown in China is mostly consumed domestically, she noted, among them, premium tea's demand exceeds supply while for medium-to low-end varieties it's just the opposite.

Meanwhile, China is also the second largest tea exporter in the world, following Kenya. Statistics show that from January to October, 2017, China earned $1.3 billion by exporting 290,000 tons of tea, an uptick of 7.5 percent and 11.5 percent over the same period of the previous year respectively. The exports are estimated at 350,000 tons for the whole year, the highest in the recent years.

Green tea, the most popular item among them, stood at 241,000 tons during the January-to-October period, followed by black tea, oolong tea, jasmine tea and pu'er tea.