Category: Agriculture

COLOMBO, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is seeking international expertise to conduct seismic surveys off the southern tip of the island in a hunt for new oil deposits, a senior minister said Friday.The country continues to import all its petroleum.“Initial seismic surveys shows that there are prospects for oil deposits in the southern […]

Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exports up to August this year were sharply lower than in the same 2006 period but export earnings were higher, a tea broker said. The island exported a total of 200.8 million kg of tea in January-August 2007, 15 percent lower than the 218.1 million kg shipped […]

Oct 04, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has slapped a new tax on rubber products to raise funds for rubber sector development officials said, amid industry protests that cash from an existing levy was not being ploughed back to the sector. Since then however, natural rubber prices have more than doubled, making the sector an […]

Oct 02, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Tea Board plans to set up a tea testing laboratory to make sure that chemical residues and impurities do not get into exports, Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi said. . The lab will in future handle all the testing done by the Board some of which is […]

Oct 01, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea brokers are considering mechanizing preparation of samples to speed up the work to handle ever increasing volumes. Brokers today prepare and distribute a million two once samples of tea a week for buyers to see and taste before deciding to bid at the Colombo auctions, the world’s […]

Sept 25, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production for August was higher than the same month last year but the island is still to fully recover from the disruption in harvesting caused by a strike and bad weather, officials said. The total production for August rose 11 percent to 24.2 million kg compared with […]

Sept 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations industry is looking at a new employment model to overcome difficulties caused by the existing 100-year-old system that relies on huge resident labour forces, industry officials said. The new model, being tried by a few firms, allows workers to cultivate their own plots of tea and sell […]

Sept 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations are warning that the sector is losing its appeal to serious investors at a time when fresh capital is urgently needed to replant crops and modernise factories. “These restrictions coupled with the rapidly increasing cost of production, consequent to increases in costs of fuel, energy, fertilizer and […]

Sept 19 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations companies face another crippling wage hike less than a year after giving one as politically powerful labour unions pressurize the government which needs their support to pass the forthcoming budget in parliament. Stock market analysts said another wage increase would increase pressure on listed regional plantations companies (RPCs), […]

SINGAPORE, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices topped 81 dollars a barrel for the first time on Tuesday, setting another record high amid fears of critically tight supplies for the winter season in the United States.OPEC’s announcement last week that it would pump an extra 500,000 barrels per day from November has failed to […]

Sept 18 (LBO) – A top tea broker has warned the industry not to take short cuts to get high prices at the Colombo auctions and instead to play strictly by the rules. “It is not advisable to turn a blind eye or encourage the achievement of prices by hook or by crook and instead […]

Sept 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations companies have called for greater security of land on which they grow export crops like tea to ensure more investment in the upkeep of estates and factory modernization. To make matters worse, compensation due on such acquisitions is not forthcoming despite repeated appeals. Planters’ Association (PA) chairman […]