Rice millers call for release of govt stock to maintain price control

Feb 14, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Small and Medium Scale Rice Mill Owners’ Association says if they are to sell rice to consumers at a controlled price the government needs to release 67,000 metric tons of paddy in store at the Paddy Marketing board. This request was made at a meeting held with Finance Minister Ravi […]

‘s Ceylon Tabacco to close two leaf depots

Jan 31, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC) announced that it will be closing its leaf depots situated in Anuradhapura and Sigiriya due to the impact of tax hikes despite an increase in profits reported last year. “It is no secret that the excise and VAT hikes in October and November […]

‘s North, more in pipeline

Jan 30, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka opened a state-run paddy store in Mannar to cater to the Northern region which can store 10,000 metric tonnes at cost of 2.6 billion rupees, the Ministry of Industries and Commerce said. “Farmers in this area faced may difficulties including a 30 year war, and now we are […]

‘s 2016 tea production, exports down, revenue up

Jan 26, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports for 2016 totaled 288.7M/kgs compared with 306.9M/kgs during 2015 showing, a decrease of 18.2M/kgs, a tea market report said. “This records the lowest export volume since 2002 where total exports declined to 287.2M/kgs,” Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in their latest report. When analyzing the categories of exports, […]

Over one million Sri Lankans affected by drought

Jan 23, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lankans have been warned to conserve water and electricity with over a million persons affected so far by drought as crop output decreases and shortages of drinking water are being reported, officials said. Officials at the disaster information center say over a million person have so far been affected […]

Sri Lanka president advises officials to brace for impending drought

Jan 19, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has held a discussion to look into the preparations at ministerial level to provide essential relief to the public during the impending drought. A special committee comprising secretaries of the ministries of power and energy, mahaweli and water supply has been appointed to make quick […]

Sri Lanka signs USD125Mn credit to modernize agriculture

Jan 18, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has signed a 125 million dollar credit with the World Bank to support and promote commercial and export-oriented agriculture, with focus on higher value agriculture products, such as fruits and vegetables. Under the project, investments to improve productivity and diversify production patterns through modern agriculture technology demonstrations in […]

Sri Lanka tea auction prices up, good demand

Jan 05, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka tea’s first Auction of the year concluded seeing good demand with high grown tea prices recording gains and low grown teas fluctuating, a report said. “Prices for low grown teas tend to fluctuate whilst High and Mid Grown small leaf teas made an impressive start recording significant price gains,” Forbes […]

Sri Lanka tea sees good demand in November

Dec 22, 2016 (LBO) – Tea production for the month of November totaled 27.3M/kgs, a gain of 2M/kgs against 25.29M/kgs of November 2015, Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in a report. “There was good demand all around,” the report said. ‘Ex-Estate offerings totalled a 0.9M/kgs vis-à-vis 0.7M/kgs the previous week. Overall quality of Western’s […]

Finance Min releases Rs7 bn to farmers for Maha season

Dec 21, 2016 (LBO) – The Finance Ministry will release 7 billion rupees to paddy farmers as a fertilizer subsidy during the Maha cultivation season, the ministry said in a statement. “The Finance Ministry  has released 5.5 billion rupees to the Agriculture Ministry to be distributed among the farmers to purchase fertilizer for the Maha […]

‘s agriculture exports

Dec 19, 2016 (LBO) – Reducing non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in Sri Lanka is a significant step towards realizing untapped export potential within agricultural sectors such as fruit, vegetables, seafood and floriculture, trade experts say. Reducing domestic NTBs is a relatively easy but significant step towards encouraging diversification, where high transaction costs have acute implications on […]

Sri Lanka tea up for third consecutive month in Nov

Dec 07, 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea auction average for the month of November showed gains with prices up 168.82 rupees to 581.33 rupees against 412.51 rupees in the period last year. “It is also noteworthy that this is the highest ever average for a calendar month improving on the previous best achieved during the […]

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