Category: Agriculture

Sri Lanka’s April 2005 tea output topped 32.21 million kilos, up 8 percent over the previous record for the highest monthly volume, posted in April 2004. Tea production up to April 2005 at 104.8 million kilos is also some 3 percent up from the 102 million kilos produced in the first four months of 2004. […]

NAIROBI, May 23 (AFP) – Kenya, one of the world’s largest tea exporters, suffered a nearly four percent drop in production in the first quarter of 2005 due to poor weather conditions, the Tea Board of Kenya (TBK) said Monday. In the first three months of the year, tea production fell by 3.79 percent (3,300 […]

Watawala Plantations is infusing Rs.158 million through a capital development drive to upgrade its tea and rubber sector, the firm said on Monday. Expansion plans include Rs. 85.93 million to set up a fully automated tea blending and cleaning plant, planting new tea on 13 hectares of land and replanting 25 hectares of rubber.To reduce […]

Fancy a meal starting off with tea champagne, a main course spiced with tea, a desert dipped in tea and round it off with a tea cookie or teapuccino? For Sri Lankans brought up on a traditional diet of kahata (extra strong) tea laced with extra milk and lots of sugar, a four course tea […]

The Asian tsunamis washed away much of what drew foreigners to Sri Lanka’s beaches, but a coastal tea plantation reputed for making the world’s most expensive tea has survived to become an oasis for tourists. The usual attractions — turtle hatcheries, marine museums, souvenir shops and fishermen on stilts — vanished in the December 26 […]

Rising investment bank Capital Alliance Holdings extended its portfolio by picking up commodity brokers De Silva Abeywardena & Peiris (Pvt) Ltd on Monday in a deal worth Rs. 10 mn. The forty two year old De Silva Abeywardena & Peiris, is currently one of the smallest out of the nine commodity brokers, with interest in […]

The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The tax was slapped on beginning at this week’s […]

The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The Inland Revenue Department made Value Added Taxes (VAT) payments mandatory on all teas brought for the local market at the weekly auctions. The tax was slapped on beginning at this week’s […]

Regional plantation companies are seeking government assistance to help them raise up to a billion rupees in debt urgently.Regional plantation companies are seeking government assistance to help them raise up to a billion rupees in debt urgently. The cash-strapped RPC’s say they need the cash to help pay the higher salaries and arrears that have […]

All rubber cultivators, from smallholders to plantation companies can get a Rs.100,000 subsidy per hectare for replanting, from a recently set up rubber cess fund. All rubber cultivators, from smallholders to plantation companies can get a Rs.100,000 subsidy per hectare for replanting, from a recently set up rubber cess fund. A Rs. 49,000 per hectare […]

Tea exporter Akbar Brothers raised its stake in Tea Smallholders to 20 percent by picking up a minority stake, brokers said. Tea exporter Akbar Brothers raised its stake in Tea Smallholders to 20 percent by picking up a minority stake, brokers said. The strategic parcel of 1.1 mn or just under eight percent shares was […]

The Plantation Industries Ministry is looking at financing local coconut production through a cess on coconut oil and palm oil imports.The Plantation Industries Ministry is looking at financing local coconut production through a cess on coconut oil and palm oil imports. “We will set up a Rs. 300 mn cess fund for the coconut industry […]