Tea industry welcomes resumption of exports to Russia

By Charumini de Silva

The tea industry has commended the Government’s success in lifting the ban on bulk Ceylon tea imports by Russia and looks forward to the resumption of exports. 

Tea Exporters’ Association Chairman Jayantha Karunaratne expressed confidence that they would get back to normal business by next week.

Admitting that Russian authorities agreeing to lift the import ban on tea was indeed good news for the industry, he added that exporters had already commenced loading and packaging according to the conditions set by the Russian authorities.

“There will be a modest increase in cost in adhering to the new set of conditions such as to maintain the purity of the containers used for tea exports and adhering to fumigation methods, but compared to the total cost it is not a major issue. The tea exporters had agreed to adopt the criteria set out by the Russian authorities,” he added.

Although some shipments have been held up from 18 December right up to tomorrow because of the temporary restriction on tea imports from Sri Lanka, he pointed out that there was no major impact on the industry and that it just yielded a shipping delay.

“Ceylon Tea has always maintained high quality and standards. What happened in Russia was very unfortunate. As tea exporters, we are confident that the business will bounce back to normal this week,” Karunaratne stressed.

In terms of this year’s performance, he asserted that despite quantities dropping slightly, the value of exports has increased owing to the premium price advance Ceylon Tea has at auctions.

Karunaratne also said the industry expects 2018 to display a market performance similar to that of this year.  

Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers Managing Director Yshan Fernando said the move was very positive and it would place the industry in a stronger position.

“There was temporary uncertainty in the industry at the last tea auction due to the Russian tea ban. However, with this move exports will benefit,” he added.  

The Foreign Ministry in a statement on Wednesday said a nine-member Sri Lankan technical delegation led by the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which included the Director General of the Department of Agriculture, joined by the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Russia, had a fruitful discussion with the Head of the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor in charge of phytosanitary matters and other officials of Rosselkhoznadzor on 25 December.

This meeting was also attended by representatives from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the RusTeaCoffee Association of Russia (Russian Tea and Coffee Association).

The timely interaction of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Plantation Industries, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Sri Lanka Tea Research Board and the National Plant Quarantine Service was highly effective in ensuring the temporary restriction was lifted in the shortest possible time.