Category: Agriculture

June 09 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in talks with Russia to lower import duties on tea, as Russia begins freeing up trade in a bid to enter the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Russia, Sri Lanka’s largest market for tea, has offered to lower tariffs of 20 percent on value added black and green tea exports […]

HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka, June 8, 2006 (AFP) – Eighteen months after the tsunami uprooted centuries-old cinnamon plantations in a country where the golden cash crop is a vital source of income, the trees are sprouting “like magic”. Part-time cinnamon planter Wimalawathi Mendis thought her modest plot was doomed when much of her village, Malawenna, just […]

June 7, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop for the four-months to April grew to an all time high of 2.9 percent or 108.52 million kilos, helped on by good rainfall, a commodity brokering house said Wednesday. Black tea production for April however, slipped 5-percent to 30.59 million kilos, Asia Siyaka Commodity brokers said.   […]

June 7, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop for the four-months to April grew to an all time high of 2.9 percent or 108.52 million kilos, helped on by good rainfall, a commodity brokering house said Wednesday. Black tea production for April however, slipped 5-percent to 30.59 million kilos, Asia Siyaka Commodity brokers said.   […]

June 05 (LBO) – After pressure from Japan, the Sri Lankan tea trade is drawing up a uniform declaration for exporters to clear their tea shipments as free from chemical residues. The herbicide is considered to be the only effective chemical against certain weeds on tea plantations, with the only alternative being costly mechanical weeding. “What […]

A budding cinnamon plant that’s growing after the tsunami. PERALIYA, June 3, 2006 (LBO) — Wearing a red crash helmet to beat the sun, Punya Sena crouches on the ground, planting young cinnamon saplings to replace thousands that were destroyed by the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka’s coastal belt in December 2004. . Wimalawathi Mendis, […]

A budding cinnamon plant that’s growing after the tsunami. PERALIYA, June 3, 2006 (LBO) — Wearing a red crash helmet to beat the sun, Punya Sena crouches on the ground, planting young cinnamon saplings to replace thousands that were destroyed by the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka’s coastal belt in December 2004. . Wimalawathi Mendis, […]

June 02 (LBO) – Overheated rubber prices are expected to settle down from its recent high spell, brokers say, but stocks with high exposure to rubber will still be the cash cow this year. Top grades of crepe rubber, which makes up bulk of Sri Lanka’s rubber exports, is now selling at 395 rupees a kilo, […]

Apr. 26 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shipped 98.65 million kilos of tea in April to overseas buyers higher than 87.96 million kilos reported during the same period 2005, a commodity brokering house said Wednesday. Sri Lanka earned 814 million dollars from tea exports last year, up from 741 million dollars in 2004, Asia Siyaka said. Earnings […]

May 4 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop shot up to a five year high of 76.54 million kilos for the three months to March boosted by good rainfall, a commodity brokering house said Thursday. Production in March alone was up 17.5 percent to 29.14 million kilos, largely driven by a 26.1 percent growth in low […]

Apr. 26 (LBO) – Sri Lanka shipped 75.0 million kilos of tea in March, over 70.3 million kilos in 2005, a commodity brokering house said Wednesday.Revenues from tea exports for March topped 19.2 million rupees, over 21.2 million rupees, reported in 2005, Asia Siyaka Commodity Brokers said. Majority of the export earnings came from bulk tea, […]

NAIROBI, Apr.25 (AFP) – Kenya’s tea sector is rebounding from a searing drought, with production of the country’s largest export shooting up 72 percent between February and March, officials said Tuesday. However, export earnings continue to suffer and the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) said the huge boost was unlikely to make up for a […]