Category: Other
Sri Lanka Finlays unit reveals gains from commodities crash
Mar 22, 2010 (LBO) – Buying tea for stock during the commodities crash in the last quarter of 2008 helped boost profits at Finlays Colombo group last year, the Sri Lankan company has revealed. The firm, part of the Swire group of the UK, said its tea packing business made higher profits in the first […]
India faces more rate hikes to tame inflation: analysts
MUMBAI, March 21, 2010 (AFP) – India’s central bank looks set to tighten monetary policy further after raising interest rates for the first time in nearly two years as it bids to check spiralling inflation, economists say. In a move that surprised experts, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked short-term rates from record lows […]
Sri Lanka poultry industry squeezed by state controls
Mar 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s poultry industry has been squeezed by taxes on imported maize which pushed feed costs up and price controls on processed chicken which worsened a downturn in the industry, a top agro firm has said. Ceylon Grain Elevators group, a unit of Singapore’s Prima, said an economic slump in […]
Sri Lanka tea trade says expects short quality season
Mar 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry expects a short ‘Western quality season’ this year with teas that had the desired quality picking up in price at recent auctions as volumes fell, officials said. “We might have a late season – there are signs of teas brightening up,” said Dhamitha Perera, chairman of […]
Arbitrary Rule
SEOUL, March 18, 2010 (AFP) – North Korea has executed a top financial official blamed for a bungled currency revaluation that triggered chaos in the communist state, South Korean news reports said Thursday. The redenomination last November 30 forced people to swap old banknotes for new at a rate of 100 to one, but restricted […]
” at night
PARIS, March 14, 2010 (AFP) – Scientists revealed Sunday for the first time how some snakes can detect the faint body heat exuded by a mouse a metre (three feet) away with enough precision and speed to hunt in the dark. It has been known for decades that rattlesnakes, boas and pythons have so-called pit […]
Banking Challenges
Mar 13, 2010 (LBO) – Banking is one sector which undergoes rapid change and transformation. Hence, what we have today as banks is completely different from what we had as banks yesterday. Similarly, banks tomorrow will be completely different from banks today. By incorporating ICT in their production models, banks have been able to successfully […]
Sri Lanka tea prices rise, crops fall
Mar 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices rose at this week’s auction as quality improved and crops coming down owing to drought, brokers said. Prices of some varieties of ‘Western high grown’ teas cultivated on the Western slopes of the central hills rose by 15 rupees a kilo and more following quality, brokers […]
Sri Lanka tea industry starved of export refunds
Mar 09, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea industry, a top foreign exchange earner, is still starved of refunds from a government tax on exports, despite rival origins expanding market share, an industry official said. A committee of government and industry officials formed to decide how to allocate the funds raised from the cess on […]
Sri Lanka Talawakelle Tea makes loss in 2009
Mar 08, 2010 (LBO) – Drought and higher wages pushed Sri Lanka’s Talawakelle Tea Estates into the red last year, its first loss, although a recovery in crop and higher prices in the last quarter helped reduce losses. The firm, a unit of the Hayleys group, said it made a 22. 3 million loss in […]
Farmers in the dock in water-deficient India
NEW DELHI, March 8, 2010 (AFP) – India faces a water crisis with availability in decline and demand rocketing, and the profligate agricultural sector is in the firing line. Farmers’ wasteful use of water is unsustainable in a country with a fast-growing population and rapidly industrialising economy, says Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Agriculture […]
Arrests
BERLIN, March 5, 2010 (AFP) – German authorities said Friday that police have arrested six people suspected of raising funds for the Sri Lankan separatist group the Tamil Tigers. The German and Sri Lankan nationals aged between 22 and 58 were arrested on Wednesday in raids on eight premises including the Tamil Coordination Committee (TCC) […]