Porcelain industry recovering now:

Noritake Lanka targets Rs 1.7 b turnover

Charumini de Silva

Perera said there is an excellent response for the Bone China tableware, which was recently introduced to Sri Lankan porcelain industry.

In 2008 the company invested Rs 160 million on this Bone China tableware manufacturing plant.

The Bone China products are mainly exported to the countries such as Japan, USA, Europe, Australia South Africa and Middle-East.

Most of the Bone China products were sold to the Japanese upper end market. It is currently promoted to tourists and embassies.

Bone China production technologies were transferred to Sri Lanka and during the last two years the company has accomplished a production of over 200 new items and over 30 new designs in Bone China and regular white porcelain,” Perera said.

At present over 30 sets were sold to the up market in the country although Bone China products are expensive compared to other porcelain products in the market.

“Bone China tableware is regarded as the most expensive tableware in the world”, Perera said.

During the economic meltdown porcelain exports to USA dropped to 30 percent where it was over 50 to 55 percent. However, at present the industry has started to recover from the situation and shows a positive trend in the ceramic industry in the country.

“We hope that we will get more orders this year since there is a greater demand with our high quality products and excellent decals. The company’s printing plant has produced its own decal requirements at a capacity of 100,000 sheets per month,” Perera said.

“The cost of energy is high when compared to the other countries such as Bangladesh.

Therefore, we are planning to get more energy efficient and latest equipment to enhance productivity and quality of products,” Perera said.

He said the production facility has increased from 300,000 pieces to one million pieces per month and currently Noritake Lanka is running to full capacity.