Category: Agriculture

June 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to encourage small farmers tapping rubber to use rain guards to reduce production disruption by rain and provide more supplies for industry helped by high prices, an official said. Small farmers are likely to be the main suppliers of rubber in future, he said. Local consumption of […]

June 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new plantations industries minister has promised to give the tea industry more of the funds collected from a tax on tea exports. Sri Lanka tea exporters have warned that the government’s failure to allocate cess funds collected from tea exports for brand building was eroding their competitiveness as […]

June 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices seem to have bottomed out and are likely to gradually rise in future sales as crops come down and global demand remains strong, brokers said. Tea prices rose at this week’s Colombo auction as volumes fell and quality improved. “With crop intakes from most plantation regions […]

June 16, 2010 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is considering planting rubber in the former war zone in the north to increase production and meet growing demand from local industries, the plantations industries minister said. “The rubber industry says they have the ability to make more rubber products if raw material was available,” he […]

June 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Carsons group has brought all its South East Asian oil palm plantations under its Singapore subsidiary with the transfer of stakes in Indonesian and Malaysian units, a stock exchange filing said. “With the transfer of the assets the plantations land bank and the asset base of GAHL will […]

June 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Carsons group profits rose 84 percent to 3.2 billion rupees due to a reversal of an impairment cost from last year and lower finance costs, while revenues grew at a faster rate than operational expenses, its annual report showed. “Brewery capacity would expand by 30 percent within the […]

June 04, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices recovered this week after falling sharply in recent Colombo auctions prompting brokers to say the market appears to have bottomed out. Fears that heavy rains could reduce crops in the southern cultivation areas which produce the bulk of national output have also subsided as rains have […]

May 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is likely to have a surplus of rice as paddy fields neglected owing to war in the north and east return to full production, government and private sector officials said. Unless there is a shift in food consumption patterns, ways to manage the excess production would have to […]

May 21, 2010 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan business group with palm oil plantations in east Asia has said demand for the edible oil is likely to grow, driven mainly by China and India, with prices having stabilized at more realistic levels. The Carson Cumberbatch group controls palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia through […]

May 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell sharply at this week’s Colombo auctions with a larger weight on sale, lower quality and reduced demand, brokers said. “Auction quantities were substantially higher this week and totalled 8.0 million kilos,” Forbes & Walker Tea Brokers said in a report. “There was less demand and […]

May 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s eastern province is recovering rapidly from the effects of war and provides opportunities for business, especially in agriculture, a senior official said. The conflict ended last May, resulting in an economic revival in the region as well as the rest of the country. Wijewickrema said the revival of […]

May 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is promoting the manufacture of specialty teas by its industry, with a competition in Japan giving recognition to producers and earning top prices, officials said. Anil Cooke, chairman of the Colombo Tea Brokers’ Association, said Sri Lanka has seven distinct growing regions and 36 valleys and growing districts. […]