Category: Agriculture

Mar 19, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is one of the countries in South Asia whose poor would suffer if prices of commodities like wheat rise further, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) said in a new report. But the study said rapid population growth, changing food consumption patterns linked to higher incomes, and stagnating agricultural […]

Mar 16, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea trade has warned that tea export orders and prices could fall in the months ahead as crops rise and consumption falls off in key markets. And smallholders, whose returns have been sharply diminishing, find that their operations are increasingly becoming financially unsustainable, the CTTA said. “The prognosis […]

Mar 15, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry has called for urgent improvements in productivity and new markets to ride out volatility in major Middle Eastern markets that continue to dampen tea export earnings. January and February tea prices have averaged about 40 rupees a kilo below that of January February 2011. While there […]

Mar 14, 2012 (LBO) – The fall in the value of the Sri Lankan rupee following a snap devaluation last year has helped tea exporters improve profit margins and regain competitiveness, Finlays Colombo, a top exporter has said. Its chairman Kumar Jayasuriya said the firm had a difficult year in 2011 because of problems in […]

Mar 04, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has lined up 28.5 billion rupees in credit mainly from state banks to buy up an estimated 4. 5 million metric tonnes of paddy in an upcoming main harvest season, the state information office said. Rice farmers are among the special interest groups most favoured by the state. […]

Feb 28, 2012 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed Lankem Ceylon PLC™s long- and short-term corporate credit ratings of A- and P2. RAM Ratings Lanka has also confirmed the A- long-term issue rating of Lankem™s 500 million rupee unsecured unsubordinated redeemable debentures. “The outlook on the long-term ratings is stable,” a statement said. “The […]

Feb 24, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs an effective fisheries protection programme to implement the sustainable policies that are required to ensure continued market access for its fish exports, a fisheries and maritime security expert has said. A fully integrated fishing vessel monitoring and fisheries protection programme to fight poaching would also enable Sri […]

Feb 19, 2012 (LBO) – The sea around Sri Lanka is facing the danger of being overfished by an estimated 600 illegal vessels a day, and marine reserves may have to be declared to conserve fish stocks, a media report said. The Sunday Times newspaper quoting John Church, an international fisheries and maritime security specialist […]

Feb 17, 2012 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lankan teas rose at the Colombo auctions this week with brokers attributing the increase to the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar after the central bank stopped defending the currency. “There was improved demand,” Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in a report. […]

Feb 17, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s plantations still need huge investments to upgrade the living standards of workers, some of which would have to come from buyers through higher prices, an official said. In recent years investments had been made in housing, roads, water and sanitation, child development and nutrition by plantations companies with […]

Feb 16, 2012 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan fisherman was shot and killed as police quelled a protest following protests after a weakening exchange rate forced a sudden fuel price increase to reduce credit financed losses in the largely state-run energy sector. The Island newspaper said both police and the military were involved in quelling […]

Feb 16, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Kelani Valley Plantations said December 2011 quarter net profit rose 13 percent to 187 million rupees from a year ago as tea and rubber prices fell and costs rose. December 2011 quarter sales of the firm, which is part of the Hayleys group, rose 48 percent to 1. […]