Hordes of tea buyers from around the country stream into the Southern Zhejiang Tea Market to do business. [Photo/WeChat account: ls-mnews]

As the weather warms up, spring tea in Songyang county – administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province – has been coming onto the market since Feb 28, giving the Southern Zhejiang Tea Market a real commercial boost.

At present, the market is dominated by wuniuzao, the earliest of the tea species. According to tea producer Wang Wan'gen, the market is these days increasingly abuzz with buyers, despite some very high prices. "The harvest time was late this year, so the price is temporarily high – a kilogram of wuniuzao can be sold for about 1,000 yuan ($158.26), 200 yuan higher than last year," Wang said.

Nevertheless, there are still many buyers willing to stump up the cash. Zhou Guanglei, a tea buyer from East China's Shandong province who has been buying tea in Songyang for more than a decade, believes that better quality is another reason for the high price.

"It tastes good and smells fragrant," Zhou said, added that the tea in Songyang is very popular in Shandong.

"Social media anchors" sell tea through live streaming. [Photo/WeChat account: ls-mnews]

Adding to all the excitement, social media anchors – who use their smartphones to sell tea through live streaming – have nowadays become a common sight in the Southern Zhejiang Tea Market. An experienced anchor said one live streaming can bring in more than 100,000 yuan of sales revenue.

According to market statistics, the single day's trading volume reached 3,338.5 kilograms on March 1, with the sales topping 2.52 million yuan.