'Formation of Colombo Tea Traders' Assn, a long felt need'

Over 4.3 million of a total population of 22 million depend on the tea industry for their livelihood. This includes private factory, export and broking sectors, together with other ancillary industries, such as shipping, transport, printing and packaging.

Although Sri Lanka is not the largest producer of tea and ranks fourth among the tea producing countries, the Sri Lanka's tea industry has the greatest impact on the economy and population of its country. It is not fully appreciated that Sri Lanka's tea industry supports approximately 20 percent of the country's population, through direct and indirect employment, out-sourcing dependent families.

The Small Tea Holder sector, an industry stakeholder created in the main, as a consequence of the Land Reform Act implemented in 1975, accounts for two million individuals. The Corporate Plantation sector has one million people residing on its properties, with instances of as many as four members of a single family providing employment within the sector.

"As the Chairman of the Apex Body of the Tea Industry of Sri Lanka, the Colombo Tea Traders' Association (CTTA), I acknowledge with immense satisfaction, the formation of the International Tea Producers' Forum [ITPF], comprising seven of the largest tea producing countries in the world.

For many decades, repeated endeavours had been made to establish such a forum, without success. It is therefore most gratifying that it was on the initiative of Sri Lanka that this was finally accomplished.

In regard to this, Minister of Plantation Industries, Mahinda Samarasinghe, must be commended for his vision, ingenuity and resolve. Justifiably, the privilege of hosting the first Secretariat of the Forum has devolved upon the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which is estimably equipped to undertake such a responsibility and guide it to maturity."

Chairman Jayantha Keragala, further stated that the ITPF had been a long felt need and would enable the fraternity of tea producers to co-operate in a multitude of producer related aspects and arrive at consensual propositions, which would benefit the global tea industry as a whole.

Consequently, it is not inappropriate that the mantle of prime mover in this significant undertaking should have been conferred upon Sri Lanka.