Lanka Sugar Company records Rs. 1,486 m PBT in 2013

Monday, 10 March 2014 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Paid Rs. 297 m as bonus for farmers and employees for first time in the history

Lanka Sugar Company Ltd., a 100% government-owned company established in 2012 to manage Pelwatte and Sevanagla Sugar, has recorded a Profit Before Tax of Rs. 1,486 million for the financial year ended 31 December 2013. These two underperforming companies were taken over by the Government in 2011 in order to make them more productive and provide a greater service to the farmers and to the public at large. In 2012 the Ministry of Sugar Industries Development was established with the responsibility of making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in sugar by the year 2020. Sri Lanka today imports around 600,000 MTs of sugar, spending over Rs. 55 billion per annum which is next

only to the import of oil. In 2011 it was reported that local production was only 4.8% of the total national demand while 95% was imported from countries like India, Thailand and Brazil. After setting up the Lanka Sugar Company to manage Pelwatte and Sevanagala in 2012 October, sugar production in the country has doubled to 10% of the national requirement in just over two years. Pelwatte has 13,000 Ha where 10,000 Ha were cultivated and Sevanagala has 4,215 ha where 3250 ha were cultivated by the end of December 2013. Refer below table (Chart 2) on progress made over two years by Lanka Sugar Company

Ltd. in Pelwatte and Sevanagala in 2012 and 2013.