Category: Agriculture

Aug 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations (KVPL) said it made a net profit of 41 million rupees in the June 2009 quarter, down 37 percent from a year ago, enabling it to almost erase losses in the previous quarter.Sales in the June 2009 quarter fell 18 percent to 674 million rupees […]

Aug 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations said net profit in the June 2009 quarter fell 37 percent to 37 million rupees from a year ago with the bottom line buoyed by palm oil and retail marketing earnings. Sales rose three percent to 1.1 billion rupees in the period, the company, a unit […]

July 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Talawakelle Tea Estates said it had returned to profit in the June 2009 quarter after making a loss in the previous quarter because of a sharp fall in the crop.A severe drought and the lagged effects of last year’s commodity market crash that led to the neglect of […]

July 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports fell in June from a year ago with earnings for the first half buoyed by the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar, brokers said. Prices at this week’s Colombo auction also fell from the week before, mainly on lower quality. Shipments of tea in June fell eight […]

July 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production in June 2009 fell 14 percent to 23.6 million kilos compared with the same month in 2008 mainly because of sharp falls in teas grown in high and medium elevations, brokers said. In the six months to June 2009, the crop was down 23.8 percent to […]

MANILA, July 21, 2009 (AFP) – A weak US currency is expected to put fresh pressure on rice prices just a year after a global supply crunch caused the cereal to rocket above 1,000 dollars a tonne, the International Rice Research Institute said.The situation “suggests that a falling dollar will keep rice (and commodity) prices […]

July 17, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose sharply at this week’s Colombo auction as volumes began declining, brokers said. The same type of teas from the Uva central highlands region, whose quality season is about to begin, also rose sharply. “…the initial invoices which reflected the signs of seasonal improvement, gained further […]

July 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan cinnamon prices are on the rebound after last year’s crash, but exporters are calling for curbs on malpractices which they say could give the spice a bad name among buyers.Among the problems are cinnamon of inferior colour, inferior infilling in quills, and high moisture content. Trade experts said […]

July 14, 2009 (LBO) – A US-funded loan scheme has helped Sri Lankan women farmers overcome capital shortages, droughts, and other calamities that threatened their financial security and survival of farms, a US embassy statement said. “These modernizations increase the availability of micro credit loans, allowing the Women™s Co-op to expand its membership and benefit […]

July 10, 2009 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan government aid package for the tea industry to recover from a crash in prices is being disbursed only slowly, a senior industry official said. The industry faced cash flow problems as large volumes remained unsold at the auctions at the time and buyers reneged on contrcats. That […]

July 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan coconut cultivators have demanded they be allowed to sell land on which growing coconuts has become unremunerative as nut prices have fallen.Coconut is an important part of the diet of Sri Lankans and the island’s crop is not enough to feed both industries as well as domestic consumers. […]

July 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government which restricts the import of rice and has imposed high tariffs on substitute carbohydrates says ‘price controls’ on rice will remain, blaming a milling oligopoly for high prices. Potatoes are charged a 15 rupee tax per kilogram. The government also allocates money to buy rice to keep […]