Category: Agriculture

April 30, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has agreed to release all funds owed to the tea industry from the export cess but key stakeholders are opposing a proposal to further increase the cess. Tea Board Chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi told LBO the Cabinet had agreed to release all funds of the tea export cess, […]

April 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state tea promotion agency is planning a new initiative based on performance incentives to boost flagging valued added tea exports, an official said. The incentive is to be based on exporters performance in increasing the volume and value of such teas, Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi told […]

April 25, 2007 (LBO) – Hayleys subsidiary Talawakelle Tea Estates (TTEL), has reported a sharp fall in first quarter profits after a strike crippled production late last year.Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2007 fell 60 percent to 30.2 million rupees from 75.8 million rupees in the same 2006 period.Revenue was down 16 […]

April 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s largest petroleum retailer, the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), is setting its sights on crude oil hedging after ending up on the right side of its maiden gas-oil options position, an official said. During those periods Ceylon Petroleum had run losses around 200 million US dollars. CPC received a […]

April 20, 2007 (LBO) – US oil giant Chevron-Texaco is interested in bidding for offshore oil exploration blocks in Sri Lankan waters, a top official of its local unit, Caltex Lubricants said. “Chevron is interested in the exploration opportunity,” Kishu Gomes, Managing Director Caltex in Sri Lanka told reporters. “There is a delegation going to Houston, […]

April 20, 2007 (LBO) – Chevron Texaco’s Sri Lanka unit, Caltex Lubricants, Friday signed a five-year deal with a Maldivian firm to expand in to the lubricant market in the archipelago. The agreement will let Caltex enhance its market position in the Maldivian lubricant market which is growing at 12 percent a year.“Currently we have approximately […]

April 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production in February fell to its lowest monthly level in 10 years because a strike by labour unions and bad weather affected the crop late last year, brokers said. Among the worst hit were top high grown tea growing areas like Bogawantalawa and Talawakelle. The February tea production […]

DHAKA, April 2, 2007 (AFP) – Bangladesh’s military-backed interim government said Monday that it raised the price of fuels used for transport and cooking by as much as 21 percent in the face of sharply rising global oil prices.The prices of diesel and kerosene were hiked by 21 percent to 40 taka (27.80 US cents) […]

March 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports grew six percent in February while higher prices also pushed earnings higher, commodities broker Asia Siyaka said. Sri Lanka exported 26.5 million kilograms of tea in February (24.9 mn kg in 2005) but was unable to fully recover losses in January when production plummeted as estates recovered […]

March 11 (LBO) – Robust rubber prices have boosted after tax profits of Kelani Valley Plantations (KVPL) by 66 percent in 2006, while turnover grew by 21 percent, the company said. Kelani Valley Plantations Limited (KVPL), a subsidiary of Dipped Products Limited (DPL) says turnover grew to 2,330 million in 2006, with increases of 11 […]

March 10 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s smallholders are not getting promised incentives for replanting and the national promotional budget for tea has also been hit because industry funds are being held by the state, officials said. Local tea exporters currently pay a four-rupee cess on every kilogram of tea sold, netting in over a billion rupees […]

March 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka, one of the world’s biggest exporters of tea, has reported its lowest monthly output in nine-years this January, as bad weather slowed recovery of strike-hit estates. Crop figures in January fell 14 percent to 21.1 million kilos from 24.6 million kilos a year earlier, the lowest since 1996, […]