Ceylon Chamber forms ‘Dairy Association for Sri Lanka’
View(s):The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), at the request of leading industry stakeholders, has taken the initiative to form the Dairy Association of Sri Lanka. This association will facilitate the sector to deliberate on matters of relevance, reach consensus and lobby their issues and concerns with policy makers for upliftment of the Sri Lanka’s dairy industry, the chamber said in a media release.
The dairy sector is one of the important sectors of the national economy that has high potential for improving the livelihood and income levels of poorer segments in the society whilst fulfilling the nutritional requirements of the population. Currently, Sri Lanka imports approximately 70 per cent of its dairy products requirements spending considerable foreign exchange. Though the private sector is actively involved in all levels of the dairy value chain, there is no active organised trade body to work closely with the public sector organisations to achieve this goal, the chamber said.
The main objective of the association is to serve as the central forum for consensus building amongst different stakeholders within the dairy industry and to promote the local dairy industry to make it more competitive in the marketplace. The membership of the association will comprise individuals or firms engaged in farming, producing, processing, importing of dairy products and providing associated services. Fifteen leading companies representing above sub sectors of the dairy industry have already joined the association, the formation of which took place on February 22. Its office bearers are: President – Nishantha Jayasooriya, CEO – Richlife Dairies Ltd and Vice Presidents – Binesh Pananwala, CEO – Watawala Dairy Ltd; Janaka Gallage, Director Finance, Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Ltd; Kumara Jayarathna, Manager, Quality Assurance, Research & Development of Milco (Pvt) Ltd and Dr. Susantha Mallawa Arachchi, General Manager, Animal Health Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Ltd.
Committee members – Wasantha Malwattege, Head of Procurement, Ceylon Cold Stores PLC (Treasurer); Amal Chandana, General Manager, Production of CIC Dairies (Pvt) Ltd; Gamini Rajapaksha, proprietor of Hypromac Engineering Services and Asoka Bandara, Management Consultant of Maliban Milk Products (Pvt) Ltd.