Category: Agriculture

July 19, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Maskeliya Plantations is planning to introduce more mechanisation in its tea fields and factories to reduce dependence on a costly and troublesome labour force.The company has changed planting methods to make mechanised harvesting easier in the future, Maskeliya Plantations chairman Sena Yaddehige has said. The company, part of […]

July 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has spent almost a year’s allocation for a populist fertilizer subsidy in just five months, the finance ministry said in a report, indicating that more than 30 billion rupees would be needed to maintain it till the year end. Policy Stampede In recent years policy makers and senior […]

July 14, 2008 (LBO) – The foods division of Sri Lanka’s John Keells Holdings (JKH) has tied up with dairy farmer co-operatives to set up facilities to add value to raw milk, in a move which is backed by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the company said. Gilles Galludec, IFC Country Manager for Maldives […]

July 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan plantations owned by the James Finlay group intend to plant rubber in a big way as part of its diversification strategy, a senior company official said.“We aim to plant rubber wherever possible. It is our number one priority,” said James Sandom, group general manager of Finlay Tea Estates. […]

July 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry expects to get support from China to improve plant breeding and cultivation, Sri Lanka Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. “We hope to do that in the very near future at a government-to-government level,” Hettiarachchi said. He said scientists from both countries, both big tea producers, […]

July 08, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan natural rubber prices will remain high on strong demand while cultivation and production is increasing, the chairman of the Colombo Rubber Traders’ Association Anura Edirisinghe said. Global natural rubber consumption will continue to outstrip supply through 2009, resulting in prices maintaining current high levels or increasing even above […]

July 08, 2008 (LBO) – Changing consumer tastes and a willingness to pay a premium for a superior product should help tea producers, who until recent years had faced stagnant prices, a top Sri Lankan exporter says. Anslem Perera, managing director of Euro Scan, says tea producers and exporters were making use of traditional consumption […]

July 07, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has earned half a billion dollars from tea exports in the first five months of the year, with volumes also hitting a new record of 129.4 million kilograms, brokers Asia Siyaka Commodities said. But tea bag exports fell from 8.5 million in the 2007 period to 7.6 million […]

July 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters of tea, the island’s top export commodity, say they not getting enough funds for marketing even though the government charges a tax on shipments which is meant for tea promotion.But the government subsequently decided to consolidate at the Treasury all cess funds collected on exports of tea, […]

July 3, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Maskeliya Plantations has reported a five fold increase in profits amid better export prices for tea, but steep management fees, interest and wages costs have kept profits in check.The firm charged 86 million rupees in interest to the profit and loss account, and said 183 million rupees on […]

June 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to join a global forum of major tea producing countries, Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. Most major tea producing countries have signed a memorandum of understanding to form the International Tea Producers Forum (ITPF) which will focus on issues of concern to producers, he said. The […]

June 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea board is not encouraging the expansion of tea cultivation in an effort to prevent over-supply from depressing prices and has warned the industry against being carried away by current high prices. “If the decrease in availability of tea is more than 10 percent a greater price hike […]