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President’s ire over importers lack of awareness of tea and rubber exports
View(s):President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday berated officials for not creating adequate awareness of the country’s main trade commodities specially tea and rubber and highlighted the space available in the Korean market for these products.
Speaking at a function in Colombo, the President said that during his visit to Korea about two weeks ago, he was taken aback when a Korean minister and a prominent Korean businessman (seated next to him at an event) were unaware that Sri Lanka’s main commodity exports are tea and rubber. The President was addressing the National Tea Awards 2017 ceremony held at Nelum Pokuna on Friday as the final curtain on the 150 year anniversary celebrations of the tea industry.
He blamed Sri Lanka’s foreign missions and their trade attaches and other key state agency officials for not creating adequate awareness internationally about the country’s key exports. Thereafter at the official dinner hosted by Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife in his honour, President Sirisena requested they consider exporting Ceylon Tea to Korea citing high prices of tea in the Korean market.
President Sirisena noted that Sri Lanka needs to identify their weaknesses and resolve the issues at hand.
The President extended his support to the industry’s future growth and highlighted that a number of proposals had already been taken up for the progress of the sector.
He pointed out that the dip in tea exports was due to a drop in the quality of tea due to the intervention of a few interested parties which had impacted the industry.
Recalling a nearly 50-year old incident, the President reminded the industry of how it faced a downfall due to the actions of a few officials appointed by the government to promote tea in the world market. These officials had not positively promoted the tea following which they had renounced their positions and left the country altogether.
He commended the industry’s resilience over the past 150 years and noted that changes in the plantations sector were required going forward in order to meet competition.
However, the President avoided any reference to the ban on weedicide a concern raised by Plantations Minister Navin Dissanayake during the latter’s speech when he asked for a suitable weedicide that could relieve the industry of the looming issues of overgrown weeds.
The minister pointed out that with the ban on certain weedicides now lifted in Europe he hoped that Sri Lankan plantations could obtain the necessary substance for application on the tea estates. He requested the ban on glyphosate be lifted at least as an interim measure until another weedicide is found to replace it.
The event was organised by the Sri Lanka Tea Board and highlighted the awards to winners in a number of categories from the Best Tea Plucker to the Best Tea Exporter and Best Tea Smallholder. The awards also honoured veterans in the industry like the first Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board Ajith Goonetilleke, Dilmah Chairman Merrill J. Fernando, Sri Lanka Tea Board’s former Deputy Director General T. Sambasivam, Akbar Brothers Chairman Abbas Akbarally, Planters Association Secretary General Malin Goonatilleke, New Vithanakanda Tea Factory Chairman N.B.H. Pilapitiya and the former CEO of Watawala Plantations Dan Seevaratnam.