Sri Lanka tea replanting, promotions hit due to withheld industry funds
March 10 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's smallholders are not getting promised incentives for replanting and the national promotional budget for tea has also been hit …
Agriculture
Post-strike blues hit Sri Lanka tea production
March 08, 2007 (LBO) - Sri Lanka, one of the world's biggest exporters of tea, has reported its lowest monthly output in nine-years this January, as bad …
Sri Lanka’s Dilmah shakes a cocktail with Ceylon tea
March 01, 2007 (LBO) - At the Water's Edge in Battaramulla on a humid Monday evening, tea drinkers and cocktail fans find common ground ranging from chivas …
Sri Lanka’s rubber trade slams government over misuse of industry funds
February 27 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's rubber trade has cried foul at government moves to deny them cash collected from the sector for its own development, less than …
IEA raises oil demand forecast for 2007
PARIS, Feb 13, 2007 (AFP) - The International Energy Agency raised its 2007 world oil demand estimates on Tuesday, saying that consumption has dropped in …
Sri Lanka wants grow oil-bearing jatropha plants for bio-diesel
Feb 08, 2007 (LBO) - Sri Lanka is studying the feasibility of growing a new oil-bearing plant in marginal state land to make bio-diesel with private sector …
Sri Lanka tea trade under pressure in first quarter, after record earnings in 2006
February 03 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's tea crop is set to drop in January after record earnings in the past year, as unfavourable weather slowed a recovery of …
Oil prices slide under 53 dollars
LONDON, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) - World oil prices sank below 53 dollars per barrel on Thursday to mid-2005 low points on healthy US energy stockpiles and warm …
Milk destroys health benefits of tea, says study
PARIS, Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) - Bad news for Britons: adding milk to tea ruins the health benefits of the drink, according to a Germany study published on Tuesday. …
Sri Lanka heads for record tea export growth despite estate worker strikes
January 4, 2007 (LBO) - Sri Lanka shipped a record 28 million kilos of tea in November 2006, amidst weeks' long trade union action that cost over a billion …
New wage deal for estate workers to hike production costs by 23%: analysts
December 21, 2006 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's newly minted wage deal for estate workers is expected to hike cost of sales by up to 23 percent for plantation companies …
Sri Lanka’s estate workers get wage hike; trade union strike ends
December 19, 2006 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's estate workers clinched a 260 rupee a day wage deal on Tuesday, ending weeks of strikes on tea and rubber estates that …
Striking estate workers to go back to work, wage talks to resume
December 18 (LBO) - Striking estate workers have been asked to get back to work, with the Ceylon Workers Congress agreeing to resume wage talks with …
Trade unions, labour shortages, fertiliser costs heavy burden for Sri Lanka’s tea estates
December 14, 2006 (LBO) - Trade union action, wage hikes and high fertiliser prices are proving a volatile cocktail of problems for Sri Lanka's plantation …
Sri Lanka to revise lease agreements between govt. and plantation companies
December 14, 2006 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's cabinet has appointed a high level committee to help revise lease agreements currently in place between the government …
Finlays Sri Lanka plantation hands over management to private company
Dec 12 (LBO) - Sri Lankan regional plantations company Udapussellawa Plantations is to hand over management of two estates to a newly incorporated private …
Bank of Ceylon in billion rupee loan deal with Sri Lanka sugar maker Pelwatte
Dec 12 (LBO) - State owned Bank of Ceylon has tied up with Pelwatte Sugar Industries to give farmers over a billion rupees in soft loans and boost production …
Sri Lanka scales down tea production forecasts as trade union strikes continue
December 07, 2006 (LBO) - Sri Lanka is unlikely to reach last year's tea production record, as trade unions strikes on estates since November over a wage …
Sri Lanka’s tea companies warn of millions in losses due to trade union action
Nov 30, 2006 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's plantation companies warned Thursday of millions of rupees in losses due to trade union action on estates, as wage talks …
Global tea experts call for formal standards on world market
NAIROBI, Nov 27, 2006 (AFP) - Global tea experts meeting in Kenya Monday called for tough minimum quality standards to address the growing problem of poor tea …