The output of spring tea in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province is projected to fall to 4,000 tons this year, a combined value of 530 million yuan ($76.8 million). 

Both the output and value will dip from last year due to the epidemic, predicted Lin Yu, an official from the Taizhou municipal bureau of agriculture and rural areas. 

The output of premium tea has dropped, and so will the output of mid-grade tea considering the current market situation, he said, adding that the ultimate result will still depend on the climate and how the epidemic progresses in the coming days. 

Taizhou now has 77,000-mu (5133.3 hectares) of tea ready for harvest, accounting for 38.5 percent of the city's total, official data shows. A total of 157 tea processing enterprises have resumed production to date. 

Zhu Chao'an, head of a tea plantation in Linhai, said that the plantation started picking spring tea on March 16, with a daily output of 750 kilograms.

More than 300 tea farmers from the provinces of Henan and Guizhou are working in Zhu's tea plantation. They were brought back to work on chartered buses and can earn as much as 400 yuan per day, Zhu said. 

Taizhou has a long history of planting tea. Official data show that the city has a tea planting area of more than 200,000 mu and an annual output of over 5,500 tons of tea leaves, worth over 600 million yuan in total. 

The city is home to a total of 59 tea brands, including several nationally famous brands such as Yangyan Gouqing from Linhai, Yunwu tea from Tiantai, and Lvhao from Sanmen.