More money to protect 'Ceylon Tea' brand

The Industry and Commerce Ministry will support the Tea Board and the Plantations Ministry to achieve the targeted $2.5 billion tea export revenue.

The Industry and Commerce Ministry has committed Rs 8.5 million for 2011 for the Geographical Indicator (GI) Registration that ensures "Ceylon Tea" as a protected brand in twenty countries. The Ministry will commit another Rs 8.5 million for 2012 for brand protection in another 20 countries.

"This initiative will make Ceylon Tea and the tea industry itself stronger in moving towards the 2.5 billion dollar target," Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said.

The Minister revealed this when he met a delegation of top state sector tea industry officials recently. Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said a laboratory to test the cleanliness of Ceylon Tea, which is an Industry Ministry-Sri Lanka Tea Board partnership with an investment of Rs 18 million, is expected to be running at full capacity in due course.

The Plantations Ministry is in the process of finalizing a private-public partnership in this regard.

The Minister and the officials arrived at a consensus to pursue different business models with Iraqi officials so that Ceylon Tea will regain the lead in the Iraqi market it once had.

Tea Cluster Chairman Rohantha Athukorala, informed the Minister that Rs seven million has already been invested by the Industry and Commerce Ministry on pesticide residue analytical studies.

The research is being championed by the Sri Lanka Tea Research Institute stamping another mark of quality for Ceylon Tea.