Category: Agriculture

June 06, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s shipments of tea, its main commodity export, fell sharply in April compared with a year ago, as production was hit by severe drought earlier in the year, brokers said.Asia Siyaka said Sri Lanka earned 34.4 billion rupees from tea exports up to April 2009, down 19 percent from […]

May 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices sagged further this week, pushed down by larger volumes, lower quality and a stronger rupee, brokers said. The rupee weakened sharply against the dollar earlier this year but steadied and even strengthened in recent weeks. The better teas were “readily absorbed”, while the poor leaf sorts […]

May 28, 2009 (LBO) – A top Sri Lankan poultry breeder says it is destroying parent stock amid a deepening slump in the industry, while a related chicken feed producer said it was hit by fresh government taxes. Printed Bubble Following several years of money printing, Sri Lanka’s also saw inflation peaking at 29.9 percent […]

May 25, 2009 (LBO)- Sri Lanka’s total tea production in April 2009 shows an increase compared with the same month a year ago, indicating the crop is recovering from the effects of severe drought earlier this year.The Sri Lanka Tea Board said total tea production in April was 29.2 million kilos, up 4.8 percent from […]

May 22, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at this week’s auction with a sudden strengthening of the rupee adding to downward price pressure caused by bigger volumes and lower quality, brokers said. Asia Siyaka also said tea prices generally declined for most categories due to lower quality following a holiday period. “The […]

May 18, 2009 (LBO) – Palm oil prices have stabilised after last year’s collapse and demand should grow in future, according to Good Hope, a subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Carson Cumber batch group with plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.“Further, sustained economic growth in largely populated countries like China and India and increased effect of urbanization […]

May 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices fell at the Colombo auctions this week but brokers said there was better demand for the increased volumes on offer.They said that despite the generally lower prices some well-made teas fetched record prices. Tea industry officials said production had recovered from the effects of drought earlier […]

May 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Kelani Valley Plantations, part of the Hayleys group, said it made a 46 million rupee loss in the March quarter compared with a net profit of 157 million rupees a year ago. It said in a stock exchange filing that sales fell 43 percent to 490 million rupees […]

May 13, 2009 (LBO) – Demand for natural rubber and rubber products will fall this year with the decline in sales of tyres and vehicles, a rubber expert told an international conference in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. But demand will recover next year or the year after as the global economy recovers although at […]

May 07, 2009 (LBO) – Restrictions on private sales of low grown teas outside the main auctions in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, are likely to be extended this year, an official said.The curb are placed in the belief that they help prop up prices, though a ‘private’ sale takes away an equal amount of supply […]

CANTONDOUGOU, May 5, 2009 (AFP) – The comforting world of chocolate ads could not be further from the harsh reality in the backwoods of the world’s biggest cocoa producer — where rubber is the new crop of choice. In the village of Cantondougou in western Ivory Coast there are no steaming mugs of hot chocolate […]

April 30, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose again at this week’s auction, propelled by the weakening rupee and strong demand from the Middle East, brokers said.“Teas in the higher priced bracket continued to decline further following quality whilst the neat leaf coloury teas showed a firming up of prices. Poor leaf teas […]