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Sri Lanka’s tea auction back to normal after Russia’s lifting of ban on Sri Lankan tea exports

Sri Lanka’s tea auction back to normal after Russia’s lifting of ban on Sri Lankan tea exports

The Sri Lankan tea auction is expected to return to normal on Tuesday/Wednesday with usual Russian demand after Russian authorities agreed to lift the temporary ban on Sri Lankan tea imports, media report sate.
“The market should normalise with this good news,” Anil Cooke, veteran tea broker and Managing Director/CEO at Asia Siyaka Commodities PLC has been quoted as saying. “On the other hand, rightly or wrongly, this is a wake-up call to step up standards and quality.”
Russian authorities suspended the import of agriculture products from Sri Lanka effective from December 18 after the discovery of the live Khapra beetle in the packaging of the consignment of tea from Sri Lanka.
As the tea trade scrambled to overcome a major crisis since Russia is Sri Lanka’s second largest tea buyer, a delegation led by Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda met with Russian officials on December 25 and pledged to improve standards and quarantine processes. Based on these assurances, the lifting of the ban from December 31 was announced by the authorities there.
In a statement, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) has commended the swift and effective action taken by the Ministry of Plantation Industries, the Sri Lanka Tea Board, and all other state and diplomatic officials that played a role in helping lift the temporary ban.
“While the limited disruption to exports of Sri Lankan tea to such an important market as the Russian Federation is unfortunate, we hope that this incident will serve as further impetus for the continuing improvement of phytosanitary surveillance and quarantine processes within the domestic supply chain,” the Association has said.

OSL take:

The return to normalcy of Sri Lanka’s tea industry would help the sector in its continuous growth momentum. The move by Sri Lankan authorities to improve standards and quarantine processes in the tea industry would further ensure the high standards of Ceylon Tea. There seem to be opportunities in the tea industry, especially in the production of value added tea products of high standard, targeting the export market.

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Article Code : VBS/AT/20180102/Z_3

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