Sri Lanka lost over 50 million kg in exports of Ceylon tea due to production drops in the past year as a result of which it lost key markets that it is now hoping to regain.

 

Sri Lanka lost a number of its key markets and a fair market share in Dubai, Russia (around 4 million kg); Iran (3 million kg); Turkey (15 million kg); China (3 million kg), Chile (over 2 million kg); Syria (over 2 million kg); Japan (1 million kg) and also in markets like Jordan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Ukraine and Holland. The production loss has reflected equally in the country’s export loss.

 

Planters Association Spokesman Dr. Roshan Rajadurai told the Business Times, “But we are now slowly picking up the markets that we lost.” He pointed out that Sri Lanka needs to be competitive and offer a product with value and in this respect the industry is looking at marketing Ceylon Tea on a different platform.

 

India was able to easily walk into some of these key markets that Sri Lanka lost due to low production volumes. Tea Brokers Association Chairman Anil

Cooke told the Business Times

that many of the countries buying tea have their own economic problems due to the rising

cost of living.

 

But due to the increase in the quantities at the auctions it now remains to be seen as to the increased demand for this shortage, he noted.