Thirsty Chinese?

This one cracks me up. We had a story in the newspaper the other day about how the Chinese appetite for cheese and flour was driving up the price of pizza in the US.
This story in the British Times Online blames Chinese tea consumption for the rise in the price of tea in England. Didn't the US oil companies blame the Chinese for their excess profits, uh, I mean rising cost of gas?

“Tea will be a bull market in 2008,” Kaison Chang, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said. “The fundamentals have changed and consumers are likely to see price rises” ...
... (The FAO) also highlighted China's surging appetite for black tea, a factor that tea buyers say could trigger another market shock. After a 13 per cent increase in 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available, Chinese tea consumption surpassed that of India for the first time. In particular, buyers say that Chinese consumers have developed a taste for Pu-erh, a type of black tea that is fermented for up to three weeks, renowned for its “musty” taste and is marketed as a slimming aid.
So 'splain this to me again. The Chinese are drinking more Pu'er, so the price of the Brits' Kenyan black is going up? Pu'er's never been a big export tea so it's got no bearing on British imports. Somebody at the UN is smoking something and it's not tea.
And while we're at it, does anyone but me get tired of hearing Pu'er described as "musty" or "dirty?" Sounds like the Times Online reporter is drinking cheap pu. I had a fine cup or two or six this morning that was neither musty nor dirty. Not even really earthy. Just smooth and mellow and flavorful.
(This post powered by pu'er)