Category: Agriculture

July 21, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka is ready to give free land to agribusiness companies for cultivation on a profit sharing basis, a government minister said Friday. Minister of Agriculture Hemakumara Nanayakkara said the government was keen to meet the long-standing request by agribusiness for land from the government. State Land “The private […]

July 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s low grown tea prices have surged owing to strong demand from key buying countries and a shortfall in the crop, brokers said. Prices of low grown teas, grown mainly in the low country districts and by smallholders, have been climbing steadily for the past one year. But the […]

July 10, 2007 (LBO) – A pay hike wrested by workers with a strike on Sri Lanka’s tea estates last year has taken its toll on two more plantations companies, Kahawatte Plantations and Madulsima Plantations, with both firms reporting losses. “For the industry, it is indeed a dilemma to reconcile social responsibilities with the realities […]

July 09, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Tea Board plans to double the import duty on foreign-made teas and introduce quality certification for imports to prevent illicit blending with Ceylon Tea. . Officials say this is aimed at safeguarding the image of pure Ceylon Tea. Under the new rules, to be gazetted soon, the import […]

June 26 (LBO) – A proposal to increase a tax on Sri Lankan tea exports to fund subsidies has been dropped after opposition from producers and exporters, a top official said.The government proposed increasing the export cess by two rupees to six rupees per kilo in response to demands from small holders to subsidise fertiliser […]

June 23 (LBO) – Two top Sri Lankan tea industry figures have urged the trade to make more efforts to maintain ethical and professional standards to avoid the danger of Ceylon tea earning a bad name. “Although prices have risen in the past two months we cannot be complacent,” he said, noting that forecasts say […]

June 22 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea trade has won a greater say in how funds raised from a tax on tea exports are spent by the government, a senior industry official said. . Colombo Tea Traders’ Association (CTTA) chairman Tyeab Akbarally said the government had acceded to industry demands and agreed to give it […]

June 18, 2007 (LBO) – The government is setting up a new committee to examine the long-term leases of estate lands to the privatized plantations firms, a senior government minister said. Sri Lanka has privatized former government held estates through long-term leases given to more than 20 plantations companies. Cabinet Spokesman Anura Yapa said a […]

June 14, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Maskeliya Plantations, which produces some of the island’s best high grown teas, has reported a sharp fall in profits following a strike last year. Profit after tax fell 91 percent to 11.3 million rupees in the financial year ended March 31, 2007 from 138 million rupees the year […]

May 28, 2007 (LBO) – A subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s Carsons group with oil palm estates in south east Asia is considering expansion and downstream ventures but warns that recent drought could affect future crop. “Here again, planting was delayed owing to drought conditions,” Selvanathan said. The Shalimar (Malay) Estate Company Ltd., a unit of […]

NEW YORK, May 24, 2007 (AFP) – Crude oil prices closed mixed Thursday as the market focused on healthy stocks of crude in the United States and the contested nuclear program of oil producer Iran. New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, dropped 1.59 dollars to end at 64.18 […]

MAY 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry and the Securities and Exchange Commission are considering introducing a tea futures market as part of efforts to develop the island’s capital markets and provide an opportunity for tea producers to hedge risks.“It’s a bet on what tea prices will do ” so the producer can hedge his […]