Category: Agriculture

Dec 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea market is expected to recover somewhat early next year with a long break in the Colombo auctions and production shortfalls in other origins keeping demand buoyant, officials said. The slowdown in tea exports from African origins is also expected to keep demand buoyant. Tea output in Kenya, […]

Dec 18, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan exporters of desiccated coconut said a recent government hike in edible oil import duty could put them out of business as prices of raw nuts will remain high, making their exports uncompetitive. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 […]

Dec 18, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government says it wants a large stock of imported rice to boost stocks, days after the country’s statistics office announced a bumper harvest for the most recent growing season. At that time the ministry of consumer affairs allowed the import of 8,000 tons of rice from Burma […]

Dec 17, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea growers said their harvests had halved with the collapse in prices at the Colombo auctions, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of small farmers and the local economy. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Chandrasena Wijesinghe, convenor of […]

Dec 10, 2008 (LBO) – Prices of Sri Lanka’s low grown teas recovered slightly at this week’s auction after plunging for several weeks but it was not clear if they had bottomed out. Teas from the high and mid-grown elevations produced mainly by listed regional plantations companies fell mainly because of lower quality. Forbes & […]

Dec 05, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea production and exports in October fell after prices crashed although export earnings in the first 10 months have exceeded a billion dollars, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Tea exports in October had dropped to […]

Dec 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has raised import duty on edible oil by changing it from a 28 percent rate to a specific levy of 40 rupees a kilo, in a bid to keep domestic coconut oil prices high, a government minister said.The Cabinet had also given approval to the ministry of finance […]

Dec 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan coconut-based industries have been badly affected by the decreasing supply of nuts because of low yields and poor prices, plantations industries minister D M Jayaratne said. “Almost stagnant or very marginal increase in coconut yield and decreasing supply of raw material to the industries has become a very […]

Nov 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices at the Colombo auction fell sharply this week with large quantities unsold indicating the crisis caused by the sudden collapse in demand last month was continuing. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Brokers said that prices […]

Nov 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea small holders are pressing for government support to save the industry from ruin after demand dropped and prices crashed at auctions in Colombo.To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Chandrasena Wijesinghe, convenor of the Joint Federation of Tea […]

Nov 20, 2008 (LBO) – The quality of black tea production in Sri Lanka has improved while quantities are coming down, as producers tightened standards in response to the crisis caused by the collapse in prices, brokers said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 “Reduced […]

SAO PAULO, November 17, 2008 (AFP) – The cost of slave labor in sugar cane fields should not be overlooked when promoting the virtues of ethanol, the Roman Catholic Church said Monday, as an international conference on biofuel got under way in Brazil. “Without taking such (human) cost into account, you cannot promote the relative […]