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| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
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Rs. 4 billion from ADB to boost tea industry Sri Lanka's tea industry has got a boost with a Rs. 4 Billion funding from the Asian Development Bank to increase land and labour productivity to retain the country's comparative and competitive position as a tea exporter. The Director for the National Council for Economic Development Rohantha Athukorala said 'Sri Lanka's tea exports are by 10.4% over last year to Rs. 59 Billion as at end September 2005 and poised to bring in over Rs.75 Billion for Sri Lanka 2005. Packeted Tea is up by 28% to Rs.15.1 Billion, Tea Bags are up 5.2% to Rs. 7.9 Billion whilst Bulk Tea is up 6.5% to Rs. 29.1 Billion. "We now have to focus and drive this industry so that value addition can be moved up from 33% to 50% in the exports by end 2008. With the setting up of the Tea Cluster with the top professionals from the Industry under the NCED umbrella we were able to conduit some key budget proposals for 2006 from the industry, to the Secretary to the Treasury Dr. P.B. Jayasundera. The reducing of the Economic Service Charge on tea processing factories from 1.0% to 0.25% has been hailed by the private sector'. The Tea Cluster with this dynamism is now driving aggressively towards formalising the amended Tea Control Act which will make quality teas come into the marketplace from the system. The Rs. 4 Billion ADB investment is been directed to Institutional reforms, Increasing the income of tea smallholders and private estates on a sustainable basis, Social and rural infrastructure improvement and reforestation. One of the key issues faced by the industry is low yields due to not maintaining a standard of 2% replanting which in turn has made Sri Lanka bring yielding a approximate 1,400 Kg per HA whilst African countries much as Kenya having an output of 2,500 Kg's per HA. Currently Sri Lanka's replanting of tea is at 0.57% which brings down the productivity and thus the cost of production being higher leading to Sri Lanka being outpriced in the world market. The Tea cluster that consists of the top professionals of the private and the government sector set up under the National Council For Economic Development has set a vision for the tea industry to be " The undisputed world leader in the tea industry and continuously innovate to have a greater share for a consumer whilst being socially responsible". |
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