Category: Agriculture

July 03, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is not opposed to genetically modified (GM) food and is likely to allow their use with certain restrictions, a government minister has said.Hemakumara Nanayakkara, the non-Cabinet minister of agricultural development, said the government was consulting foreign experts on allowing GM food imports and cultivation of GM crops. He […]

July 02, 2009 (LBO) – The head of Sri Lanka’s Chemical Industries (Colombo) (CIC) said the company’s investments in agriculture proved it was profitable but investors should target niche, high-value products as land was limited.The company arranges visits to farms for people interested in entering the sector and also train about 1,000 farmers a year […]

July 01, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry has said funds collected through a government cess on exports which are supposed to be used for the benefit of the trade are not forthcoming. Avi de Silva, chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders™ Association, said insufficient monies disbursed from the cess fund were making worse […]

KOTMALE, June 28, 2009 (AFP) – World tea prices have rocketed but along misty tea-growing mountain slopes in Sri Lanka’s central hills, farmers are facing disaster. “Earlier we were concentrating mainly on enhancing yields — drought was not an issue then — but we are now focusing on drought-tolerant varieties,” Gunasekare said. World tea prices […]

June 23, 2009 (LBO) – A new tea factory has been set up in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota district where high-priced low grown teas are cultivated by small farmers, the government information department and the Tea Board said.But Hemaratna said the new one in Hambantota had been approved before the decision and was also outside […]

June 23, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Watawala Plantations, whose profits fell sharply last year, has warned talks on a new wage deal with labour could be tough as most firms in the tea industry face cash flow problems. Sathasivam said that it is only to be expected that wages and input prices will increase […]

June 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production in May dropped 22.7 percent to 25.54 million kilos from a year ago owing to the effects of drought, a Tea Board official said. Tea production in the year to May was down 26.9 percent to 105.5 million kilos but a recovery is expected in the […]

June 10, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s James Finlay group said tea exports to Iraq did well in 2008 despite the strife and that it expanded its marketing and launched a new product with higher profit margins. Jayasuriya said the company took advantage of the oil price boom of 2007-08 which increased consumer spending in […]

June 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s shipments of tea, its main commodity export, fell sharply in April compared with a year ago, as production was hit by severe drought earlier in the year, brokers said.Asia Siyaka said Sri Lanka earned 34.4 billion rupees from tea exports up to April 2009, down 19 percent from […]

May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices sagged further this week, pushed down by larger volumes, lower quality and a stronger rupee, brokers said. The rupee weakened sharply against the dollar earlier this year but steadied and even strengthened in recent weeks. The better teas were “readily absorbed”, while the poor leaf sorts […]

May 28, 2009 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan poultry breeder says it is destroying parent stock amid a deepening slump in the industry, while a related chicken feed producer said it was hit by fresh government taxes. Printed Bubble Following several years of money printing, Sri Lanka’s also saw inflation peaking at 29.9 percent […]

May 25, 2009 (LBO)- Sri Lanka’s total tea production in April 2009 shows an increase compared with the same month a year ago, indicating the crop is recovering from the effects of severe drought earlier this year.The Sri Lanka Tea Board said total tea production in April was 29.2 million kilos, up 4.8 percent from […]