COLOMBO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka sets to launch a mega global campaign to promote its popular Ceylon Tea this year in order to boost its tea exports, local media reports said here on Thursday.

Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake said the global campaign will first start off in China in May and in Russia in September followed by Germany, Ukraine and Japan.

The Plantation Ministry aims to create global awareness on the quality of Ceylon Tea which will be promoted with a lion logo, which is the trade mark of Sri Lanka.

Dissanayake said an estimated 25 million U.S. dollars had been earmarked for the implementation of the global campaign.

Sri Lanka's tea exports took a plunge last year with 282 million kg being exported into global markets, compared to the 288 million kg which was exported in 2017.

Sri Lanka earned an estimated 1.43 billion dollars in 2018 through its tea exports.

Dissanayake said that with a better year expected for the tea industry, the government was targeting a revenue of 1.60 billion dollars from its tea exports in 2019.