New SLTC Chairman implores govt, stakeholders:
‘Formulate 10-year tea industry plan’
Ravi Ladduwahetty
Sri Lanka Tea Council’s (SLTC) new Chairman Merrill J Fernando
yesterday implored the government and all industry stakeholders to
formulate a 10- year sustainable plan to take the world famous Ceylon
Tea to its pristine glory. Sri Lanka’s tea industry has been a sleeping
giant over the years and it is high time that all the
stakeholders-planters, growers, exporters and brokers united to take the
Ceylon Tea brand to its pristine glory, Fernando told Daily News
Business.
Merrill J Fernando |
Fernando, who heads his family-owned MJF Exports, the largest Sri
Lankan exporter of value added teas under the world famous Dilmah Teas
brand to over 100 countries, also said that the 10-year policy that
should be formulated in a manner which should not be changed with
changing governments, ministers and bureaucrats. A dialog and consensus
should be adopted with all the stakeholders with the Tea Research
Institute as well, he said.
Samples of tea being tasted for the Colombo tea auction where
the largest quantity of tea is sold in a single location in the
world. File photo |
He also commended the Sri Lanka Tea Board taking meaningful steps to
revive the image of Ceylon Tea and noted that all exporters also should
maintain quality standards and homogenous pricing standards.
He also noted that the value additions should benefit the Sri Lankan
exporters and not the importer at the other end of the market. It is
important to have the Ceylon Tea brand rather than the brand of the
importer which is more damaging and a deterrent than exporting bulk
teas. They should be packed and shipped out of Sri Lanka and where the
benefits of value addition is not taken away from Sri Lanka, he said.
Therefore, the Sri Lanka Tea Board campaign is justifiably and
rightfully geared to the export of pure Ceylon Tea packed in Sri Lanka,
he observed.
“There are instances where there is severe undercutting where there
are varying prices adopted by exporters to get lions’ shares of the
market which should be avoided. These are mandatory standards and Ceylon
Tea should have the Lion logo and if these disciplines are maintained,
the Ceylon Tea brand should be revived fast,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of the Tea Commissioner enforcing
regulations without fear or favour and underscored the importance of
factory capacities being made public, which he said, he believed was for
the greater good of the industry.
The need for replanting teas was also stressed, which would add 5
percent year on year to the national output and this is vital in the
context of the 318 million kilos of tea achieved last year. “Replanting
would bring in the returns in four years and the national production
could rise to 340 million kilos, weather permitting,” said Fernando. The
Tea Council Chairman also proposed that the members of the 23- Regional
Plantation Companies and the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority
should make use of the uncultivated lands to add value to the
plantations by engaging in value added agri-industry such as vegetable
and fruit cultivation and diary farming which will also be revenue
yielding. |