Tea industry could achieve US $ 5 b export mark by 2020- Dr Jayasundera

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The country’s tea industry could achieve US $ 5 billion export value by 2020 through increased productivity and value addition. “Sri Lanka will be a country with an identification and differentiation that could achieve the $ 20 billion export mark by 2020. I am optimistic that we could cross $ 5 billion mark in tea exports by 2020 not by doubling our production, but tripling the prices as volumes could only increased by 2 to 3 percent. Moving away from conflict trap and being a middle income country, one can look at the future with fair degree of optimism, Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera said.

“The country has applied some brakes in the sectors of imports and reserve to boost the production side. We need to go through these adjustments with optimism and confidence as our economy is entering the middle income country trap, he said addressing the 118 Annual General Meeting of the Colombo Tea Traders Association held last Friday in Colombo.

The way forward to achieve $ 5 billion is that by becoming high in productivity and quality driven up market exports. Sri Lanka needs to define boundaries clearly and start branding rather than importing tea. The country should process the entire value chain to derive economic benefits.

As against exporting Sri Lankan tea to reach $ 15 billion from $ 4 kilo tea price, good practices, quality control and branding separating from competitors is necessary. The industry players needs to keep an open mind to generate results as there are challenges the industry has to manage and mitigate in the next eight years,” he said.

The country is in term of economy is different at present. Efforts are needed to lead the world in terms of tea, as tea is rich man’s drink. This beverage industry has tremendous scope to bounce back sustaining its richness. With plans to become $ 100 billion economy by 2020, the tea industry should strategize to contribute to the economy is similar proposition.

Sri Lanka is really on a path of economic growth and it has eight years of journey as a middle income country. The infrastructure is coming in to shape. Many projects that were thought not feasible have been completed including the expressway and reasonable road network. The business world could do better with sincerity, good vision and action. We need to achieve growth allowing corrections to take the direction. The plantation sector by deploying good cultivating practices, correct techniques and targeting new markets by way of a new model will be able to reach the targets even before the timeframe, Jayasundera said.