TETLEY Tea is "quite realistic" about its ability to win a significant percentage of the Irish tea market, the marketing director of its distributing company said.

Distributors Stafford Lynch began distributing Tetley in May and will have the product in all the multiples by September, said Ms Emer Lynch. Lipton, which recently withdrew from the Irish market is understood to have hoped to gain 10 per cent to 15 per cent of sales here and to have spent over £3 million in its marketing drive.

Tetley, which was last year bought out by management, was formerly owned by Allied Domecq Ltd, the owners of Lyons, the market leader here.

Ms Lynch said a radio advertising campaign was already under way and a television campaign would begin in September.

Meanwhile, sources in Lyons and Barrys tea have commented on a report by the Competition Authority reports that the drop in import prices in tea in recent years has occurred alongside a rise in retail prices.

Increases in the cost of packaging, wages, distribution and advertising, as well as improvements in the quality of their product, accounted for the drop in tea prices not being passed on to the consumer, according to a source in Lyons.

The source also said the authority had compared the fall off in import prices with the rise in the recommended retail price. However, up to 80 per cent of Lyons sales were at their "sell out" price. The rise in the sell out price in the past five years was around 12 per cent, the source said. The retail price had risen by almost 18 per cent, according to the authority.

Lyons' profit margins had not changed significantly in the period, the source pointed out.

A source in Barrys said that, while the import price of some teas had fallen, others had risen in price. He would not say whether the import price of the teas bought by Barrys had increased or decreased in recent years.