Category: Agriculture

August 24, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shipped a record 185.9 million kilos of tea to overseas buyers for the seven months to July, a commodity broker said Thursday. However, a strike at the Colombo port in July crimped export targets, with the island shipping 27.4 million kilos as against 28.0 million over the corresponding period […]

August 22, 2006 (LBO) – Rubber prices in Sri Lanka have been dropping since July, following stiff competition from regional producers like Thailand and India. “Thailand being one of the biggest suppliers of rubber in the region has had better volumes from their crops, resulting in a drop in Sri Lanka’s rubber price,” Damitha Perera, […]

LONDON, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) – Crude futures plunged this week, in line with many commodity prices, amid evidence of an economic slowdown in the United States and a lowering of tensions in the Middle East, analysts said. But nickel prices hit a fresh historic record on keen demand, while coffee soared on concerns over […]

August 16 (LBO) – Japan has upped its purchase of black tea from Sri Lanka in recent months, as quality of local tea improves and exporters comply with tougher standards. Exports to Japan were up 32.28 percent to as at end April this year to 3558 kilos of black tea, just behind China as top tea […]

August 16 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exporters can tap into about 30 million rupees in cess funds being given this year as an incentive for value added exports of Ceylon tea.Exporters can submit claims based on volumes exported, proof of value addition under Sri Lankan brand labels, provided pack sizes are under three kilos, […]

SINGAPORE, Aug 16 (AFP) – Crude prices were steady in Asian hours Wednesday as traders breathed easier over the Middle East after the UN ceasefire in Lebanon took effect, dealers said. British energy giant BP’s announcement Friday that it would keep pumping oil from its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska was also a relief for […]

August 14 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with the Asian Development Bank to structure donor backed bonds to encourage private investment into the plantation sector, top officials said Monday. “We are talking to the Asian Development Bank to see if long term bonds guaranteed by foreign funding can be worked out for the plantation […]

Aug 11 (LBO) – A top UK department store says it is expanding its selection of up market Ceylon Teas by introducing more custom made designer teas to tempt the palate of its customers. A soon to be introduced Harrods “Eagle Nest” tea is manually hand rolled to exacting specifications of the posh Knightsbridge department store. […]

August 3, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea output dipped 2.0 percent for the six months to June, after good rainfall brought in a record harvest in 2005, a commodity broker said Thursday. Total production in June slipped 10.7 percent to 26.24 million kilos over the same period 2005, led by a 20.7 percent drop in […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – A backlog of tea shipments and falling prices due to trade union strikes at the Colombo port has vessels bypassing Sri Lanka and tea exporters worried over tight cash flows. Trade union action and go-slows at the port over a wage hike entered its tenth day on Thursday, with no solution […]

July 11 (LBO) – James Finlays has upped capacity at its tea factory, turning out bio-degradable tea bags to break into new markets in the United States and Europe. Finlays is about the sixth largest tea bag exporter in the country and the largest exporter to Japan, producing 1.5 million tea bags a day. With three […]

NAIROBI, June 26, 2006 (AFP) – Kenyan tea production dipped in May and is expected to fall between 10 and 16 percent in 2006 compared with a year earlier due to less rainfall and the lingering effects of a just-ended drought, officials said Monday. The Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) said May output dropped by […]