Category: Agriculture

March 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea exports grew six percent in February while higher prices also pushed earnings higher, commodities broker Asia Siyaka said. Sri Lanka exported 26.5 million kilograms of tea in February (24.9 mn kg in 2005) but was unable to fully recover losses in January when production plummeted as estates recovered […]

March 11 (LBO) – Robust rubber prices have boosted after tax profits of Kelani Valley Plantations (KVPL) by 66 percent in 2006, while turnover grew by 21 percent, the company said. Kelani Valley Plantations Limited (KVPL), a subsidiary of Dipped Products Limited (DPL) says turnover grew to 2,330 million in 2006, with increases of 11 […]

March 10 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s smallholders are not getting promised incentives for replanting and the national promotional budget for tea has also been hit because industry funds are being held by the state, officials said. Local tea exporters currently pay a four-rupee cess on every kilogram of tea sold, netting in over a billion rupees […]

March 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka, one of the world’s biggest exporters of tea, has reported its lowest monthly output in nine-years this January, as bad weather slowed recovery of strike-hit estates. Crop figures in January fell 14 percent to 21.1 million kilos from 24.6 million kilos a year earlier, the lowest since 1996, […]

March 01, 2007 (LBO) – At the Water’s Edge in Battaramulla on a humid Monday evening, tea drinkers and cocktail fans find common ground ranging from chivas regal to green tea. Here in this upmarket golf club house, six kilometers from Colombo city, tea-tenders are busy dreaming up concoctions to serve up tea in variations that, […]

February 27 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s rubber trade has cried foul at government moves to deny them cash collected from the sector for its own development, less than a month after tea traders protested the misuse of an industry fund.The Ceylon Rubber Traders Association (CRTA) said Tuesday that the industry had been officially informed that […]

PARIS, Feb 13, 2007 (AFP) – The International Energy Agency raised its 2007 world oil demand estimates on Tuesday, saying that consumption has dropped in industrialised countries for the first time for two decades but was rising strongly in emerging economies such as China. Demand in countries outside the OECD industrialised nations would be 3.2 […]

Feb 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is studying the feasibility of growing a new oil-bearing plant in marginal state land to make bio-diesel with private sector partners, an official said.Countries such as the United States have given tax-breaks for alternative fuels, and blended bio-diesel such as B5 with 5 percent vegetable based diesel is already […]

February 03 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop is set to drop in January after record earnings in the past year, as unfavourable weather slowed a recovery of strike-hit estates, industry officials said. “Estates which normally send had 8,000 to 10,000 kilograms to the auctions, are sending about 2,500 kilograms,” says Lal Alawattegama, of Asia Siyaka […]

LONDON, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) – World oil prices sank below 53 dollars per barrel on Thursday to mid-2005 low points on healthy US energy stockpiles and warm weather in the northern hemisphere. The latest sharp falls have sparked speculation that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could soon hold an emergency production meeting. London’s […]

PARIS, Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) – Bad news for Britons: adding milk to tea ruins the health benefits of the drink, according to a Germany study published on Tuesday.Tea has complex compounds called polyphenols which are believed to help the arteries to relax or dilate, thus enabling a smoother flow of blood.Scientists led at the […]

January 4, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shipped a record 28 million kilos of tea in November 2006, amidst weeks’ long trade union action that cost over a billion rupees, commodity brokers Asia Siyaka said Thursday. Despite strike action by unions demanding a wage to cope with a soaring costs of living Sri Lanka exported a […]