Category: Agriculture

Sep 06, 2011 (LBO) – High coconut prices caused by a crop shortfall reduced profits at Renuka Agri Foods last year although exports increased. Net profit fell 20.5 percent to 144 million rupees in the year ended March 31, 2011 from 181 million rupees the year before with earnings per share falling to 36 cents […]

Sep 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has launched a brand for cinnamon, its main spice export, aiming to build an image like its main export, Ceylon tea, and exploit growing awareness of its health benefits. The ‘Pure Ceylon cinnamon’ brand will be registered in key markets in North America and Europe, said Janaka Ratnayake, […]

Aug 27, 2011 (LBO) – Investors are losing interest in Sri Lanka’s plantations as rising wages without productivity gains are making companies reluctant to invest in the replanting needed to sustain the industry, a business group has warned. Sri Lanka™s competitiveness as a tea producer has declined with each successive wage hike with no commensurate […]

Aug 25, 2011 (LBO) – Although Sri Lanka’s tea crops have fallen in recent months, the island is likely to match last year’s record production with output seen reviving later in the year, a broker said. “Despite a downturn in production in the month of July, tea production is on course to achieve last years […]

Aug 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s July 2011 tea production fell sharply from a year ago, owing to erratic weather conditions, reducing total crop for the year so far to slightly below that of the same 2010 period. Sri Lanka Tea Board statistics showed the July 2011 crop fell 11.5 percent to 24.2 million […]

Aug 23, 2011 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan tea exporter has suggested more cordial relations between plantations companies and labour unions could reduce “confrontational” approaches to wage negotiations. Fernando said that he believed the conflict with trade unions is largely due to lack of an ongoing dialogue between plantation owners and trade unions. “If […]

Aug 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Horana Plantations, a unit of the Ceylon Theatres group said it lost 13. 3 million rupees in the June 2011 quarter despite higher revenues after a wage hike. The firm, which mainly grows tea said revenues rose 12. 9 percent to 492 million rupees and costs also rose […]

Aug 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Three Acre Farms, a poultry firm, which is part of the Ceylon Grain Elevators group said profits fell 88-percent to 3. 0 million rupee in the June 2011 quarter from a year earlier, on rising costs and weaker chick prices. “The profit from broiler operation has reduced during […]

Aug 10, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bairaha Farms, a poultry group said net profits fell 47 percent to 55. 1 million rupees in the June 2011 quarter with revenues down 01 percent to 565 million rupees. The firm reported earnings of 3. 45 rupees per share for the quarter. Sri Lanka’s poultry stocks have […]

Aug 10, 2011 (LBO) – The International Labour Organization is helping a co-operative society in northern Sri Lanka rebuild a war-damaged rice mill, which will process paddy produced by 2,000 farmers in the area. The mill in Nadunkerni, Vavuniya, can process 4,000 metric tonnes of paddy (unhusked rice) a year, creating 20 jobs. The ILO […]

Aug 10, 2011 (LBO) – Farmers in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka are growing sea bass in cages as part of a larger aquaculture project involving 1,300 people who will also grow mussels and oyster, with help from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The US embassy in Colombo said over 50 percent of […]

July 30, 2011 (LBO) – Vietnam is ready to send experts to Sri Lanka to transfer aquaculture knowledge and techniques to grow seaweed, lobster and sea-cucumber, visiting minister Vu Van Tam said in Colombo. “We can send out technicians or experts to help Sri Lanka,” deputy minister Tam said. “Or we are ready to receive […]