P’ment stirs up for tea

The increased cess imposed on the tea industry, cited to “destroy the producer as well as the exporter,” has been removed with immediate effect, Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe informed Parliament yesterday, in response to Democratic National Alliance MP Anura Dissanayake who indicted the Government for “withholding the cess funds at the Treasury, avoiding reinvestments in the industry”.

“The Government allocated a total of Rs. 19,817 million for the development of the tea industry. This is four times the value compared to Rs. 5,303 million raised from the tea cess. Your concern is based on a letter issued to Director General of the Sri Lanka Customs, not a gazette notification announcing the increase. You should not draw parallels between a letter and a gazette. However, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishard Bathiudeen has issued a gazette abolishing such decision,” said Minister Samarasinghe.

According to MP Dissanayake, the Government took the decision on 23 January to hike the cess from Rs. 4 per kg to Rs. 10 per kg.

“With the difficulties in bridging the loss incurred from the respective increase, many exporters have found difficulty entering into viable contractors with buyers. Having failed to pass the losses on to the buyers, the exporters are compelled to bear the loss,” said MP Dissanayake. (AH)