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| Wednesday, 11 June 2003 |
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Amana Investments takes to tea broking with Rs. 15 m investment Amana Investments Ltd has invested Rs.15 million to set up a tea broking company - Lanka Commodity Brokers Ltd (LCBL) which will take advantage of the growing tea market. The company will be participating in the first auction on July 1 and 2. Sri Lanka's tea production has two hundred million to three hundred million kilos but the number of tea brokers has grown only from seven to nine which means that there is tremendous potential in the market, LCBL Chief Executive Officer Sarath Sirisena told the Daily News at the launch of the company at the Galadari Hotel last Friday. "We are here to fill in the vacuum which has been created which will handle the volumes that the other brokers cannot handle. Overseas buyers are getting more and more selective about the quality of the teas that they import and this is the reason why we want to advise growers on what production quality to aim at", he said. "We will be assisting the low and the medium grown factories in the Southern, Sabaragamuwa and the Central Province, he said and added that the company will be taking advantage of the advanced Information Technology systems to procure additional business". Asked about the stiff competition from the other established brokers, he said that the market was large enough for everybody. The tea industry has to be particularly grateful to the smallholder who has been instrumental in boosting production to over 300 million kilos which makes Colombo the largest tea auction in the world, Chairman of LCBL H.D.T. Bodhidasa, himself a former Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board told the inauguration ceremony. He thanked lending institutions such as the ADB which have assisted the industry in a great way which has brought it to what it is today. He called upon the industry to make Sri Lanka the best tea centre in the world and the most preferred destination. (RL) |
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