Category: Agriculture

Mar 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan rubber prices have recovered after a temporary fall triggered by overseas demand and supply factors, and look set to stay strong on rising global tire demand, trade officials said. Natural rubber prices at the Colombo auctions hit record highs in February and then slumped sharply after increased supply […]

Mar 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka can increase its catch but within the framework of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) in which competing interests will have to make trade-offs, the head of the regional fisheries body said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of IOTC, said a proposal by the Seychelles on tuna quotas at the […]

Mar 19, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka, which has 53 varieties of banana, has got Indian expertise under a United Nations funded project to help farmers make money by using waste from banana plants, officials said. The UNDP supported pilot project will be launched in north-central Anuradhapura, southern Embilipitiya and northern Jaffna. The United Nations […]

Mar 18, 2011 (LBO) – Industrial countries should reduce their fleets in the Indian Ocean, enabling coastal states to increase their catch but depleting stocks should not be over-exploited, the head of a regional fish management body meeting in Sri Lanka said. Rondolph Payet, chairman of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, said their meeting in […]

Mar 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to send a team of officials to India for talks on ending poaching by Indian fishermen in the island’s northern waters, fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. “We hope to sign an agreement with India,” he told a news conference. “We are confident we can resolve this problem […]

Mar 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has prevented efforts to restrict her tuna quota in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), fisheries minister Rajitha Senaratne said. Sri Lanka had revived its activity in the IOTC and was compliant with its rules and did not allow IUU (illegal, unreported, unregistered) fishing,” Senaratne said. Had the […]

Mar 11, 2011 (LBO) – Tea harvests from Sri Lanka’s main plantations areas have improved following a slump caused by bad weather which affected the first quarter ‘Western quality season’, brokers said. Unseasonal heavy rains had affected tea harvests especially on the western slopes of the island’s central hills which usually produce quality teas in […]

Mar 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may temporarily lift a 35 percent import tax on maize to prevent prices going higher and hurting the island’s poultry industry after floods destroyed a part of the domestic crop, an official said. Sri Lanka’s agriculture ministry has requested approval from the cabinet of ministers to cut taxes […]

Mar 09, 2011 (LBO) – Finlays Colombo has urged Sri Lankan authorities to allow more tea imports for blending saying it could lose market share by not catering to growing consumer demand for multi-origin blended teas. Chairman Kumar Jayasuriya said the firm, part of the UK’s Swire group, has been lobbying along with other tea […]

Feb 25, 2011 (LBO) – Bad weather has disrupted the Sri Lankan tea industry’s ‘Western quality season’ when teas grown on the western slopes of the island’s central massif yield their best quality and fetch high prices, brokers said. The season, which is in the first quarter of the year “has been badly disrupted due […]

Feb 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is looking to begin talks through a joint working group with India to find a long term solution to fishery poaching in Sri Lanka’s northern waters, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. “We want to re-activate the mechanism of an India and Sri Lanka joint working group to find a […]

Feb 21, 2011 (LBO) – High commodity prices helped Sri Lanka’s Balangoda Plantations managed by the Stassen group turn a profit in the December 2010 quarter with management fees exceeding profits, its accounts showed. The firm made a December 2010 quarter net profit of 35 million rupees against a loss 105 million rupees the year […]