Tea exporters target US $ 5 b by 2020

The Tea Exporters Association (TEA), the private sector body dedicated to promote tea exports will conduct a workshop on 'Tea Strategy Development' in each stakeholder sector of the tea industry to achieve the revenue target of US $ 5 billion by 2020.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 18 from 2.30-6.30 p.m. at the Export Development Board auditorium, Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 2.

Minister of Plantation Industries, Navin Dissanayake will inaugurate the session while the Chairman, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Chairperson, Export Development Board and senior officials in the relevant state organisations will also participate in the workshop.

The workshop will help stakeholders and policymakers to understand the future needs of the tea industry and map-out a plan to ensure its sustainability. It will also focus on four key areas of the tea sector such as new business models for plantation and manufacturing sectors, marketing of Ceylon Tea in today's context, current trends and prospects in the global tea market and implications of exchange rate fluctuation on the tea industry.

The panel of speakers include Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Mangala Boyagoda, Lasantha Abeywickrama, Roman Scott (Singapore), Roshan Rajadurai, Anil Cooke and Anil Alwis while Niraj de Mel will be the moderator. The event is open to all stakeholder members of the tea industry and for service providers such as banks, freight forwarders and logistics companies.