Category: Agriculture

April 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports slid nearly 30 percent in February due to an output slump blamed on a “severe drought,” officials said Thursday.Sri Lanka is one of the world’s biggest tea exporters and the commodity is its largest foreign exchange-earner. Tea exports fell 29.2 percent to 131.3 million dollars in […]

Mar 30, 2009 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan agro firm has set up a help desk to combat the spread of ‘mealy bug’ which is sweeping through home gardens in the island’s capital Colombo, and is threatening several agro areas. Hayleys Agro says its pesticide ‘Admire SL 20’ has been found to be effective in […]

March 28, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell again at this week’s auction as quality dropped with the end of the season and rains in planting districts indicated bigger crops in future, brokers said.“In the Large Leaf catalogues OP1s and OPs were the most affected and marked down by 20 to 30 rupees […]

March 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices have weakened with the end of the Western quality season, although the better quality offerings still fetched higher prices at the last auction.Brokers said rains have been reported from most tea planting districts and crop intakes have shown a slight increase in certain areas. Supply will […]

March 25, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exporters are being encouraged to take part in a forthcoming tea fair in Hong Kong as a means to penetrate the huge Chinese market, in industry officials said.Hasitha de Alwis, director (promotion), Sri Lanka Tea Board, said firms taking part in the tea fair will not only […]

March 25, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Tea Board has received applications from more than 470 tea factories seeking approval to get government concessions on loans, a senior official said.But the tea companies have complained that they have got no funds yet. Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said the manufacturers are seeking support for […]

March 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has tightened rules on corn imports to arrest falling domestic farm gate prices with a record area under cultivation this year, a government minister said.For the 2008/2009 cultivation season 65,850 hectares of corn are expected to be put under the crop and 60,582 has already been planted. The […]

March 16, 2009 (LBO) – An artificially strong rupee could further hurt exports of Sri Lankan tea to key markets whose currencies have been devalued in recent months, a brokerage has warned.Asia Siyaka Commodities said Colombo auction tea prices would remain firm in the first quarter, with a probable dip in the second, and pick […]

March 13, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose again at this week’s Colombo auction mainly because volumes had fallen sharply owing to drought but crops are expected to revive with the onset of some rains. Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers said Sri Lanka’s tea production in January 2009 was the lowest in 15 […]

March 07, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose at this week’s Colombo auctions mainly because of a shortfall in crop as well as improved quality, brokers said.Prices are likely to remain strong if the present dry weather continues and curtails the crop, they said. About 50 invoices of high grown teas from regional […]

March 5, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka, one of the world’s biggest tea exporters, registered a 30 percent drop in overseas sales in January because of a decline in the crop, the Sri Lanka Tea Board said on Thursday. Growers have also curbed output at the request of the Tea Board to manage high production […]

Feb 26, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose again at this week’s Colombo auction, where volumes were lower than usual and are likely to fall further, brokers said. The main buyers from Russia and the Middle East were active in the market. Prices of teas from the estates of listed regional plantations companies […]