Category: Agriculture

Sept 13, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run cattle farms are getting cows from Australia to become ‘self sufficient’ in milk and reduce “the drain on the country™s foreign exchange resources”, the finance ministry said. A 12.9 million US dollar project co-financed by Australia’s Export Finance Insurance Corporation (EFIC) Cooperative and Centrale Raiffeisen-Boerenleenbank (Rabobank) of […]

Sept 11, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Pelwatte Sugar Industries, which produces sugar and alcohol has made a 306 million cash call to fix its finances by selling one share for every four held by current shareholders. The firm said in a stock exchange filing that it had a stated capital of 679 million rupees […]

Sept 09, 2011 (LBO) – Climate change brought about by global warming could threaten the famed quality of Sri Lanka’s tea, the island’s main agriculture export and its best known brand, a new report said. “Could this be the beginning of a shift in the global tea cultivation map? ” the brokers asked. “The impact […]

Sep 08, 2011 (LBO) – Prices of teas made by Sri Lankan plantation company estates rose this week although still below production cost as supply fell and demand improved with brokers saying the market seems to have bottomed out. There was good demand at the Colombo auctions with improved buying mainly from shippers to the […]

Sep 06, 2011 (LBO) – High coconut prices caused by a crop shortfall reduced profits at Renuka Agri Foods last year although exports increased. Net profit fell 20.5 percent to 144 million rupees in the year ended March 31, 2011 from 181 million rupees the year before with earnings per share falling to 36 cents […]

Sep 03, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has launched a brand for cinnamon, its main spice export, aiming to build an image like its main export, Ceylon tea, and exploit growing awareness of its health benefits. The ‘Pure Ceylon cinnamon’ brand will be registered in key markets in North America and Europe, said Janaka Ratnayake, […]

Aug 27, 2011 (LBO) – Investors are losing interest in Sri Lanka’s plantations as rising wages without productivity gains are making companies reluctant to invest in the replanting needed to sustain the industry, a business group has warned. Sri Lanka™s competitiveness as a tea producer has declined with each successive wage hike with no commensurate […]

Aug 25, 2011 (LBO) – Although Sri Lanka’s tea crops have fallen in recent months, the island is likely to match last year’s record production with output seen reviving later in the year, a broker said. “Despite a downturn in production in the month of July, tea production is on course to achieve last years […]

Aug 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s July 2011 tea production fell sharply from a year ago, owing to erratic weather conditions, reducing total crop for the year so far to slightly below that of the same 2010 period. Sri Lanka Tea Board statistics showed the July 2011 crop fell 11.5 percent to 24.2 million […]

Aug 23, 2011 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan tea exporter has suggested more cordial relations between plantations companies and labour unions could reduce “confrontational” approaches to wage negotiations. Fernando said that he believed the conflict with trade unions is largely due to lack of an ongoing dialogue between plantation owners and trade unions. “If […]

Aug 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Horana Plantations, a unit of the Ceylon Theatres group said it lost 13. 3 million rupees in the June 2011 quarter despite higher revenues after a wage hike. The firm, which mainly grows tea said revenues rose 12. 9 percent to 492 million rupees and costs also rose […]

Aug 14, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Three Acre Farms, a poultry firm, which is part of the Ceylon Grain Elevators group said profits fell 88-percent to 3. 0 million rupee in the June 2011 quarter from a year earlier, on rising costs and weaker chick prices. “The profit from broiler operation has reduced during […]