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| Sunday, 9 June 2002 |
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Indo-Lanka venture nets Middle East orders by Elmo Leonard Nets N Sea (Pvt) Ltd., a Board of Investment venture in operation since February 2001, has obtained initial orders for fishnets from importers in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Dubai. The $48 million Indian collaboration venture operates in the Mirigama Export Processing Zone. Since going into production, the company has been selling its 2 to 18 ply gill fishnets in the local market and also in India and the UAE. The initial aim of the company was to sell to South Asian countries. Recognising the company's export potential, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board sent Nets N Seas' Managing Director, Erwin Weerasinghe to the Middle East, along with 25 Sri Lankan firms to take part in the Saudi World Trade Fair 2002, held in Riyadh in May. "The Saudi Arabian and Omani companies, who are among the largest importers of fishing gear, requested that my company enter into exclusive trade with them in their respective countries," Weerasinghe said. The Indian collaborator is Amitech (Pvt) Ltd, Goa. Amitech in turn gets technical input from Mimmingen Textile Engineering Co Gmbh, Germany. "Red tape in India had put a break on Amitech's net export operations, underscoring the need to set up a unit in Sri Lanka," Weerasinghe said. Nets N Sea is Sri Lanka's only export-oriented fishnet manufacturer. Up to 25 years ago, Amitech was a fishnet manufacturer, when the founder's son, Sudi B Naik (48) qualified as a mechanical engineer in the United States. Now, Amitech is a large manufacturer of fishnet and rope making machines, with exports to Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, China, Philippines and Sri Lanka. Following a Japan-India collaboration, Amitech machines have the same design as 'Amita' machines of Japan. Amita Japan is one of the best known names in fishnet manufacturing machines. Nets N Sea works with six net manufacturing machines and length stretching machines. The company has a capacity of 10 tonnes of nylon fishnet per month, but its production is around 60 per cent of capacity. Weerasinghe said that the company's 60 workers who were all novices to fishnet manufacturing, had come a long way in producing goods of export potential. The company has no immediate plans for expansion, but intends to consolidate its production. |
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