Business

Lankan tea exports earned $ 1.3 Bn in 2021

Published

4 years ago

2022/01/9

Sri Lanka’s tea industry performed well in 2021 earning 1.3 billion U.S. dollars despite lower yields and higher costs of production.

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board Jayampathy Molligoda says that Sri Lanka earned approximately 1.3 billion U.S. dollars from the export of 288 million kilos of tea in 2021.

In a press release, Molligoda said the cost of production of Sri Lankan tea is among the highest in the global market and tea production peaked in 2013 and has declined since then. He said auction prices in Kenya and India are cheaper than in Colombo.

He said Sri Lanka needs to “focus more on the front end of the value chain” by marketing the clean, sustainable and wellness aspects of Ceylon Tea.

It said: The total export quantity is 288 million kilos. During the year 2020, the export revenue was Rs 230 billion (US $ 1,213 million) and the export quantity was 266 Mn kilos. It is significant to mention the average fob price at customs, which was Rs 867/= per kilo in 2020 has further increased to Rs 915.97 per kilo, whereas in 2019 it was only Rs 823/ per kilo of tea exported. The sales and tea production statistics for the month of December are yet to be finalised, however some 296 million kilos have been sold and closer to 300 million kilos tea production have been achieved for the full year. Last year tea production was only 279 million kilos.

The negative side is that our tea estate productivity has been declining over a period of time; the year 2000 the tea production was 305 million kilos and has increased to 328 million in 2010. The peaked production of 338 million kilos in 2013- since then there has been a gradual decline of tea production, which is 2.6 % decline based on CAGR. The cost of production of tea producers has been increasing due to many factors which includes low productivity, both land and labour, high overheads and adverse impact of climate change and Covid-19.

It is relevant to mention here that the Kenyan tea production (main competitor for Sri Lankan teas) has been increasing rapidly and Sri Lankan tea production has been declining during the last 10-15 years. This is due to lack of tea replanting & infilling undertaken and the producers’ inability to address climate change effects and other factors, as there has been a gradual erosion of soil and land degradation, despite application of fertilizer.

Kenyan tea auction price in US $ is lower compared to Sri Lanka and, their growers are getting lower tea prices, whereas in Sri Lanka, small holders are getting a reasonable price and it is being regulated under Tea Control Act No 51 of 1957.

As can be seen, Ceylon Tea is the most expensive teas in the global market- gram to gram and as a result, there is a tipping point in the tea pricing structure for our tea exporters and marketers to be competitive in the global market place. In view of the above, an ‘integrated productivity and quality strategy’ is one of the key focus areas for the producers to reduce costs per kilo of made tea to enable the exporters and marketing teams to capitalize on Ceylon Tea ‘brand equity’. In the circumstances, it is important that the producers adopt an integrated balanced nutrient management system with more and more mineral and organic inputs to be applied in order to improve the soil quality to achieve Environmental and economic sustainability and focus on social well-being of the workers and small holders/growers rather than looking for short term gains.

The overall performance is satisfactory, however, achieving any further increases of higher prices for Ceylon Tea has become a challenge, because Kenyan and Indian auction prices are much lower than Colombo auction prices. Nevertheless, we need to focus more on the front end of the value chain by implementing the already approved promotional activities under

‘Ceylon Tea global campaign coupled with aggressive marketing strategy formulated with the support of all the industry stakeholders’ participation. Therefore, the brand story that the cleanest tea in the world has to be reinforced through maintaining minimal level of chemical residues and demonstrating sustainable credentials including purity and wellness factor of Ceylon Tea. We, at Sri Lanka Tea Board wish to extend our gratitude to all the stakeholders for their dedication, commitment and the relative performance. It’s a great achievement under difficult and challenging environment.

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Business

NDB reports all-time high earnings; doubles PAT on a normalised basis

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Kelum Edirisinghe - Director, Chief Executive Officer / Chair, Board of Directors Sriyan Cooray

National Development Bank PLC (hereinafter ‘the Bank’) announced its results for the financial year ended December 31, 2025 to the Colombo Stock Exchange recently. Full year results tabled by the Bank showcase a strong growth across all business lines with Net Banking Revenue increasing by a 45.2% on a comparable basis.

Like most other peers, the Bank’s 2024 financial performance was positively impacted following the successful conclusion of the ISB debt restructure with a one-off impact on interest income, fee income and net impairments amounting to LKR 1.4 billion, LKR 0.7 billion and LKR 9.4 billion, respectively for the said year.

Fund based income

Net interest income (NII), which accounts for close to 75.0% of Bank’s total operating income, grew by 6.5% on a normalised basis. Despite pressure on interest-earning assets arising from the lower interest rate environment, the Bank’s disciplined margin management helped stabilise Net Interest Margin (NIM) at 4.0% for the year. On a comparable basis, excluding one-off exceptional items, NIM stood at 4.2%, compared to 4.3% for both scenarios in 2024. By the end of the year, the Bank had close to LKR 29.3 billion in Loans and Deposits under a special arrangement with its customer(s) with a netting-off feature (end 2024: LKR 19.6 billion).

Non-fund based income

Net fee and commission income reached LKR 8.1 billion for the year – representing a growth of 14.3% from LKR 7.1 billion in 2024 excluding ISB restructuring related fees. Key growth drivers for the current year were trade finance, credit and lending, digital banking and credit and debit cards.

Credit and operating costs

Credit costs for the year amounted to LKR 5.7 billion, reflecting a substantial reduction of 57.1% compared to LKR 13.2 billion in 2024, a testament to the Bank’s strong credit underwriting practices and focused efforts on collections and recoveries. The Bank’s success on account of the latter is best reflected in notably improved stage 2 and 3 loan stock which stood at 7.9% and 10.8% respectively at end 2025 as compared with 16.6% and 14.0% at end 2024. Stage 3 provision coverage also saw further improvement to 59.1% from 54.5% during 2024 showcasing the Bank’s prudent management of credit risk.

Operating expenses closed at LKR 19.0 billion for the year, marking a 13.1% YoY increase. This increase was primarily driven by routine staff-related increments and necessary market realignments, along with higher investments in IT infrastructure and business development undertaken during the year.(NDB)

Business

PMF Finance appoints Nishani Perera as Non-Executive Independent Director

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

Nishani Perera

PMF Finance PLC has announced the appointment of Ms. Nishani Perera as a Non-Executive Independent Director, further strengthening the Company’s strategic oversight, governance framework, and board-level expertise as it continues to advance its transformation and long-term growth agenda.

Ms. Perera is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and brings over 19 years of experience across audit, assurance, advisory, risk management, and corporate governance. She currently serves as Partner – Audit & Assurance at Moore Aiyar and as Director of Moore Consulting (Pvt) Ltd.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Perera has gained substantial exposure to listed companies, banks, finance companies, and other regulated entities. Her areas of expertise include financial reporting under SLFRS/LKAS, audit and risk oversight, regulatory compliance, and the implementation of quality management standards. She has worked closely with Boards of Directors and Audit Committees on matters relating to financial reporting integrity, internal control frameworks, enterprise risk governance, and adherence to evolving regulatory requirements.

Ms. Perera holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Cardiff Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Special) from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. She is also an Associate Member of ACCA and CMA Sri Lanka, and a Fellow Member of AAT Sri Lanka.

Business

Capital Alliance deepens capital market presence with third Closed-End Fund Listing at the CSE

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/26

Sahan Weerasooriya

(Left – Right): Ramly Rahman, Analyst – Capital Alliance Partners Ltd ; Praveen Kanagasabai, Vice President – Capital Alliance Partners Ltd: Mrs. Nilupa Perera, Chief Regulatory Officer – CSE; Rajeeva Bandaranaike, CEO – CSE; Vevaashgar Vathanatheesan, Assistant Vice President – Capital Alliance Investment Ltd (CALI); Ochitha Bandara, Analyst – CALI; Dimuthu Abeyesekera, Chairman – CSE; Ms. Pranavi Sivaruban, Analyst – CALI; Yasith Lakshan, Analyst – CALI; Rajitha Gunarathna, Assistant Manager – Capital Alliance Partners Ltd.

The units of the “CAL Three Year Closed End Fund” were officially listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) recently. Accordingly, a total of 841,263,375 units of the ‘CAL Three Year Closed End Fund’ were listed by Capital Alliance Investments Ltd (CALI), a member of the Capital Alliance Ltd Group (CAL Group). The listing was commemorated by way of a special bell ringing ceremony on the CSE trading floor.

CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike speaking at the occasion remarked upon the rising demand for Unit Trusts: “When you look at funds, particularly unit trusts in today’s active capital market, we see a lot of domestic interest in the market with more investors entering. Funds, not only fixed income funds but also growth and balanced funds, can be the ideal vehicle through which new investors can enter the market. We see this interest reflected in the success of CAL’s Three Year Closed End Fund. More people are seeking to invest their money through professional fund managers.”