Category: Trade

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States withdrew key trade privileges from Bangladesh Thursday, citing dangerous conditions for workers in the wake of a factory building collapse that killed over 1,100 people. The collapse was by far the worst disaster ever in the global textiles industry, leaving 1,129 people dead and shocking many used to the […]

June 27, 2013 (LBO) – Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation is looking at expanding trade and investment in banana and tuna fishing in the island, Sri Lanka’s economic development ministry said.The ministry said Kouhei Watanebe, Chairman, Japan – Sri Lanka Business Co-operation Council and adviser to ITOCHU Corporation had had talks with economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa […]

June 25, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka and India has held talk on doubling trade to 10 billion US dollars over the next three years, removing non-tariff barriers and reviewing negative lists, the island’s finance ministry said. India has allowed eight million pieces of garments under a quantity restriction.Sri Lanka has sought removing quantity restrictions […]

June 24, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports fell 6.8 percent in April 2013 to 696.6 million US dollars with apparels falling 14.98 percent to 275 million US dollars from a year earlier, and exports in first four months down 7.8 percent, the Central Bank said. Industrial exports were down 7.5 percent to 518 million […]

June 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka slapped a 10 percent tax on gold, a senior government official deputy Treasury Secretary S R Attygalle said, as world gold prices fell to levels seen in 2010.India had imposed an 8.0 percent tax earlier. Sri Lanka’s gold import surged to 100 million US dollars in the first […]

June 11, 2013 (LBO) – A senior executive of Nestlé, a Swiss-based food group company has been appointed chairman of Sri Lanka’s state export promotion agency, the ministry of commerce said.Bandula Egodage, vice president, corporate affairs at Nestlé Lanka Plc has was formally made chairman at a ceremony at Export Development Board’s office in Colombo […]

June 11, 2013 (LBO) – Thai Union Manufacturing Company is planning a fish canning factory in Sri Lanka and a team is expected to arrive later this month to conduct a feasibility study an official said.“Sri Lanka is importing large amount of canned fish right now,” National Aquatic Resource Agency chairman S G Samarasundara said. […]

June 04, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka drive to invest in ports, airports and ground transport will help the island link itself to the global trade, drive exports and growth, an International Monetary Fund official said.Global trade which plunged 20 percent in 2008 and 2009 has started to recover from 2010 and has now grown […]

May 30, 2013 (LBO) – Bicycles made in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and Tunisia with Chinese components have been hit with ‘anti-dumping’ duties by the European Union, a media report said. Bloomberg newswires said EU had determined that bikes with Chinese parts were assembled in several countries including Sri Lanka to avoid a 48.5 percent […]

May 25, 2013 (LBO) – Ceylon Tea is being promoted in China giving a chance for citizens in that country to enjoy the beverage, though freely consuming foreign tea is a liberty that citizens of the island no longer posses. Sri Lanka’s consulate in Shanghai had also had a launched a promotional campaign on tea. […]

May 19, 2013 (LBO) – A delegation of Iraqi officials have called for tighter controls on exports of Sri Lankan tea to stop refuse tea from entering their country and also complained about production processes at factories, the trade ministry said. “We want the bulk tea shipments to Iraq from Sri Lanka well packaged, and […]

May 16, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s exports to India have surged under a free trade deal, growing six fold, with the number of items going up four fold to 2,100 but most of the imports to the island take place outside the agreement, economists said.“On average 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s exports to India […]