Category: Agriculture

Feb 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry is considering developing an ‘all-encompassing’ standard to demonstrate compliance with a plethora of international criteria producers are faced with, an official said. Niraj de Mel, Managing Director of exporter Vanrees Ceylon, said the number of standards producers are compelled to comply with have been increasing in […]

Feb 02, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea plantations industry said investments in improving infrastructure and community services had improve the quality of life of workers who produce the island main export crop. The Planters™ Association of Ceylon (PA), which represents 23 listed Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), said estate communities in RPC estates have seen […]

Jan 31, 2012 (LBO) – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said it is giving a 22 million dollar loan to Sri Lanka to rebuilt irrigation works, which will help 7,000 farmer families in former war-torn areas. The money will be used to improve downstream irrigation infrastructure of the Iranamadu reservoir in Kilinocchi in […]

Jan 31, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is testing new varieties of tea that have better ability to tolerate drought and disease, the head of the island’s tea research outfit said. Gerry Jayawardena, chairman of the Tea Research Institute, said the new types of tea plants were needed given changes in climate and consumer preferences […]

Jan 31, 2012 (LBO) – A Sri Lanka state decision to allow commercial timber to be harvested will increase the supply of fuel wood for use in tea driers helping cut production costs, an industry body representing private managers said. “We are confident this decision by the government will benefit not only the estate sector […]

Jan 30, 2012 (LBO) – Poverty levels in Sri Lanka’s tea industry are still too high and need to be addressed as a matter of priority, a senior official of the Food and Agriculture Organisation said. The FAO is also involved in the island’s tea industry and is supporting the National Institute of Plantations Managements […]

Jan 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations said December 2011 quarter net profit fell 39 percent to 158 million rupees from a year ago, with a profit expected in the last quarter as well after losses earlier in the year. The company said that strong palm oil prices had helped cushion a fall […]

Jan 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s production of CTC (crush, tear, curl) type teas, used mainly in tea bags, rose sharply in 2011, although overall output was slightly lower than the record crop in 2010, brokers said. The Sri Lanka Tea Board said annual production for 2011 was 328.3 million kilos, about one percent […]

Jan 25, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will host a key meeting of officials from major tea producing and consuming nations in a United Nations body next week, helping boost its image as it starts a global marketing campaign. The 20th Session of Food and Agriculture Organisation™s Inter-Governmental Group on Tea will meet in Colombo […]

Jan 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tea Smallholder Factories Plc, a unit of John Keells Holdings said it lost a million rupees in the December 2012 quarter compared with a 41 million a year earlier, as revenues fell. . Revenues fell 17 percent to 510 million rupees in the quarter while cost of sales […]

Jan 20, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantation companies are in crisis with high costs and falling commodity prices that only greater labour and land productivity can overcome, an official said. The island 150-year-old plantation industry needs to rationalize land and labour utilization and management, said Anura Ekanayake, a former Director of Planning at the […]

Jan 17, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Renuka Agri Foods plans to buy control of Richlife Dairies Limited, a manufacturer of dairy and fruit products, a stock exchange filing said. Renuka Agri Foods said it has signed an agreement to purchase 76 percent of the issued capital of Richlife Dairies. The deal grants Renuka Agri […]