Category: Agriculture

May 28, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Malwatte Valley Plantations Plc, a tea and rubber growing company said it was expanding commercial spice and fruit cultivation.. Chairman Willem Bogtstra told shareholders in an annual review that the firm is focusing on pepper, cardamoms, rambutan, avocado, mango and mandarin, using currently uncultivated land. “During the review […]

May 23, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations Plc reported profits of 124 million rupees in the March 2013 quarter down 54 percent from a year earlier, as commodity prices eased, with palm oil continuing to perform well.The firm reported earnings of 53 cents per share for the quarter, in accounts filed with the […]

KANDANA, Sri Lanka,(AFP) – A hot cup of Ceylon tea is better known as being soothing and relaxing, but Sri Lanka is now marketing its most profitable export as a luxury boost for the libido.The tea industry is increasingly plugging Ceylon’s supposed aphrodisiac qualities in a bid to radically change perceptions of the brew, which […]

May 15, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is embarking on an aquaculture drive with technical support from Vietnam starting with culturing sea cucumber, seaweed and lobster fattening and also help devise a master plan, officials said.A team from Vietnam’s Research Institute for Aquaculture Number 3 began working with Sri Lanka’s National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) […]

May 09, 2013 (LBO) – Poaching by Indian fishing vessels in Sri Lanka’s northern waters is now much reduced, fishermen in the island have been warned not to go into other territories, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said.“In the north fishermen are now much happier,” Senaratne told reporters in Colombo. “They had two problems. They earlier […]

May 08, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is planning to boost deep sea fishing and double tuna exports by 2015 with the help of new vessels from Japan and China, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. At the moment a few dozen foreign flagged deep sea fishing vessels from Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia were operating in […]

Apr 05, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea and rubber estate workers have won an 18 percent hike in their basic daily wage from April 01 effective for two years, which may cost firms in excess of 250 million rupees a year, industry officials said.The basic wage was increased from 380 to 450 rupees a […]

Mar 12, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Renuka Agri Foods said it had bought a residual stake in Rich Life Dairies, a firm which produces ready to drink flavoured milk and fruit juices raising its stake to 100 percent. Renuka Agri Foods said in stock exchange filing that it had paid 100 million rupees for […]

Mar 07, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Royal Ceramics Plc, a tile and sanitary ware group said it sold 12.75 percent of its 51 percent stake in Asia Siyake Commodities Plc, a tea broker, to Lanka Commodity Brokers Ltd.The first tranche would be sold after March 04 and the second tranche after June 11.The firm […]

Mar 07, 2013 (LBO) – Japan will provide 8.2 million rupees to build a hatchery to produce fingerlings in Sri Lanka’s former war torn North Eastern district of Mannar, the Japanese embassy said.Japan will give 65,735 dollars as grant aid to Sri Lanka’s state-run National Aquaculture Development Authority of Sri Lanka (NAQDA) to build a […]

Mar 02, 2013 (LBO) – Nestle Lanka Plc, a unit of a Swiss-based food group said profits rose 56 percent to 949 million rupees in the December 2012 quarter from a year earlier, and payments to local farmers topped 4.0 billion rupees. Total payments to dairy and coconut farmers topped 4.0 billion rupees. The firm […]

Mar 01, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Grain Elevators, which has interests in feed-milling, hatchery and poultry meat said it lost 229 million rupees in the December 2012 quarter on weak sales and higher costs.The group reported a loss of 2.82 rupees per share for the quarter, in accounts filed with the Colombo Stock […]