Category: Agriculture

India has called for duty free access for its teas into Sri Lanka under the latest round of CEPA talks that concluded in end August. A weekly Asia Siyaka Commodities report said India is asking for duty free access for green and black teas in three kilos and larger pack sizes. The Siyaka report said […]

Sri Lankan tea is facing increased competition form other tea producing countries with lower costs of production and younger plantations. Emerging tea producing countries are also testing the waters for stronger brand building and marketing.Indonesia, Argentina, Malawi, Tanzania, though not new to the tea trade are steeling a march over Sri Lanka on price, with […]

CTC tea prices are picking up again after a four month lull, with winter buying nearing and quality levels improving. Sri Lanka’s long April and May holiday season is blamed, which annually contributes to a quality drop and a subsequent backlog of made teas.CTC tea prices were at Rs. 154 at this week’s auction, down […]

Sri Lanka’s tea crop grew by a marginal 4 million kilos over 2004, despite the country’s low grown sector still recovering from the December tsunami devastation.Tea production in May at 31.5 million kilos tips 2004’s 30.4 million kilos output, but falls short of the all time high of 33.6 million kilos posted in 2002. May’s […]

Industry analysts say receding tea consumption in traditional markets could be negated if new markets are actively tapped for business.A recent study in Britain, the very nation that propagated the tea plantations in the mid 1800s, found that the brew was loosing flavour with the new generation of Brits. Over the last five years total […]

Sri Lanka’s April 2005 tea output topped 32.21 million kilos, up 8 percent over the previous record for the highest monthly volume, posted in April 2004. Tea production up to April 2005 at 104.8 million kilos is also some 3 percent up from the 102 million kilos produced in the first four months of 2004. […]

NAIROBI, May 23 (AFP) – Kenya, one of the world’s largest tea exporters, suffered a nearly four percent drop in production in the first quarter of 2005 due to poor weather conditions, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) said Monday. In the first three months of the year, tea production fell by 3.79 percent (3,300 […]

Watawala Plantations is infusing Rs.158 million through a capital development drive to upgrade its tea and rubber sector, the firm said on Monday. Expansion plans include Rs. 85.93 million to set up a fully automated tea blending and cleaning plant, planting new tea on 13 hectares of land and replanting 25 hectares of rubber.To reduce […]

Fancy a meal starting off with tea champagne, a main course spiced with tea, a desert dipped in tea and round it off with a tea cookie or teapuccino? For Sri Lankans brought up on a traditional diet of kahata (extra strong) tea laced with extra milk and lots of sugar, a four course tea […]

The Asian tsunamis washed away much of what drew foreigners to Sri Lanka’s beaches, but a coastal tea plantation reputed for making the world’s most expensive tea has survived to become an oasis for tourists. The usual attractions — turtle hatcheries, marine museums, souvenir shops and fishermen on stilts — vanished in the December 26 […]

Rising investment bank Capital Alliance Holdings extended its portfolio by picking up commodity brokers De Silva Abeywardena & Peiris (Pvt) Ltd on Monday in a deal worth Rs. 10 mn. The forty two year old De Silva Abeywardena & Peiris, is currently one of the smallest out of the nine commodity brokers, with interest in […]

The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The tax was slapped on beginning at this week’s […]