Category: Agriculture

July 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices are likely to stay strong on good demand from consuming countries and possible shortages caused by disruption of production at key origins like India, officials said. Tea Exporters Association chairman Jayantha Keragala said Sri Lankan tea prices were attractive right now. “At the moment we’re enjoying […]

July 15, 2010 (LBO) – Tea output in India’s Assam region, the country’s top production region may fall 30 to 40 percent in the second half of 2010, leading to higher prices, a media report said. Last year India had produced 979 million kilograms of tea. Assam is said to produce more than half of […]

July 07, 2010 (LBO) – Tea bag exporter Ceylon Tea Services, part of Sri Lanka’s Dilmah brand group, is to invest 233.3 million rupees in a tea plantations subsidiary of the parent firm, a statement said. Ceylon Tea Services said in a stock exchange filing that it bought 15,553,600 rights in Kahawatte Plantations from Forbes […]

July 02, 2010 (LBO) – Shipments of tea bags from Sri Lanka to Russia, the main market for tea, the island™s biggest export commodity, have fallen as high import duties on value added teas deter exports, latest data showed. The share of value added tea exports to the Russian market has been falling in recent […]

July 02, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan cocoa prices have shot up owing to cop failure and heavy demand for cocoa beans might prompt the confectionary industry to resort to imports, a trade body said. The Spices & Allied Products Producers™ and Traders™ Association (SAPPTA) said the price for a kilo of grade one cocoa […]

June 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to encourage small farmers to produce more of a rubber grade suitable for tire manufacture which is in demand, officials said. Plantations industries minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said a policy decision was taken recently aimed at increasing production of the RSS 3 type rubber grade. Although most people […]

June 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s tea production in May 2010 rose 12.9 percent to almost 30.3 million kilos as production continued to recover from a downturn the year before, Tea Board data showed. The annual production in 2008 hit a record high of 318 million kilos. Corrected – annual production figure Tea production […]

June 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea trade has called for a stop to the setting up of new factories unless they are supported by cultivated tea lands to prevent ‘excess capacity’ and competition for green leaf. Avi de Silva, chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association, said they were concerned about the proliferation […]

June 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to encourage small farmers tapping rubber to use rain guards to reduce production disruption by rain and provide more supplies for industry helped by high prices, an official said. Small farmers are likely to be the main suppliers of rubber in future, he said. Local consumption of […]

June 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices seem to have bottomed out and are likely to gradually rise in future sales as crops come down and global demand remains strong, brokers said. Tea prices rose at this week’s Colombo auction as volumes fell and quality improved. “With crop intakes from most plantation regions […]

June 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new plantations industries minister has promised to give the tea industry more of the funds collected from a tax on tea exports. Sri Lanka tea exporters have warned that the government’s failure to allocate cess funds collected from tea exports for brand building was eroding their competitiveness as […]

June 16, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is considering planting rubber in the former war zone in the north to increase production and meet growing demand from local industries, the plantations industries minister said. “The rubber industry says they have the ability to make more rubber products if raw material was available,” he […]