Archives

By Ravi Ladduwahetty

A Sri Lankan exporter of herbs leaf to the United Kingdom and Germany last week has called upon the Government to reintroduce the export grants and incentives without which the industry would be seriously affected.

The Travex International Group of Companies which exported up to 30 tonnes of Gotu Kola and Mukunuwenna leaves to UK and Germany with the export grants and packing credit offered by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board is now fighting a futile battle to keep its export markets going with the additional air freight costs following the bomb attack on the Katunayake Airport in 2001.

It is time that the Government reintroduced these incentives which would help in Sri Lanka regain a once-thriving market which would be otherwise lost to India, Travex Group Chairman Dr. Premalal Ottali told the Daily News in an interview.

Travex, through its buyers was exporting Gotukola, drumsticks and snake gourd worth sterling pounds 10,000 and has lost its anticipated demand due to these constraints, Dr. Ottali said.

Among the core business of the Group is the export of dry fish, Ambul Thiyal and other foodstuffs such as dried noodles, dry string hoppers, rice flour and also newspapers to the Middle East, UK, Germany, UK and Singapore for the Sri Lankan community there. Coconuts are also exported to the UK. He has also called upon the airlines to reschedule their flights so that newspapers and perishable food items could reach those destinations. The company sells around 100 daily newspapers and 600 Sunday newspapers in the Gulf.

He proposed that the Government should subsidise the sale of Sinhala newspapers in the Gulf so that the expatriate workers could benefit by being abreast of the news in Sri Lanka on a daily basis. If the Government could provide facilities such as insurance to these expatriate workers, supplying a newspaper could not be relatively expensive, he said.

Commenting on the distribution problems, he said that delivery of the newspapers was also hampered with the delays in the airlines, especially in the Gulf. The Group also hosted a Buyer-Seller Meet at the JAIC Hilton for its outstanding buyers where they were felicitated with awards

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager