Crisis in tea industry - Over to you minister

21 January 2015 04:10 am Views - 2094

On behalf of the President and the members of the Ceylon Planters’ Society I wish to congratulate the newly appointed Plantations Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella.We wish to assure the minister of our unstinted support in all his endeavours to redirect the plantation industry to face the very difficult challenges of today.


We are confident that he will soon make our industry a viable, secure and strong one, ready to serve the next generation of Sri Lankans, as it has served the generations before. With his experience, maturity and above all a sense of devotion and vision will usher in bringing about peace and development in the plantations.


When Lakshman Kiriella was the Plantations Minister he said that he had always been a firm believer t hat our competition is not with other tea producing countries but the real competition is with other beverages such as coffee, carbonate drinks, juices, alcohol, beer, mineral water, milk, etc. He further said in many developed countries and societies, the teenagers and the youth, who are going to be decision-makers in the future, are addicted to fizzy drinks and other beverages.


Minister Kiriella observed that the industry needs new revolutionary and radical thinking and it is of significant importance to target the youth and the teenagers all over the world and addict them to drink tea.




This statement was made by him when he was addressing the ‘ Global Inter Governmental Group Conference on Tea’ held at the BMICH in 2003.
Minister Kiriella further said that a more concerted joint effort, where tea producing countries complement each other, will be necessary for the long-term survival of this historical and traditional industry.


He was of the opinion that it is worthwhile for the tea producing countries to concentrate on manufacturing better quality teas, rather than merely expanding production, which could result in a large volume of poor and plain teas and another important aspect is to move away from selling tea as a primary commodity and encourage the marketing of valueadded teas i n branded products, so that retail shelf prices of tea in branded end products never come down in price.
I am not going to elaborate on the problems the tea industry is facing at the moment since all these issues have been pointed out by many eminent personnel at various forums to the authorities concerned, t hough t his has not made any significant impact on the industry, but would like to bring some thoughts for the newly appointed minister’s consideration.


If we are to take full advantage of our tea, we must increase value-added products such as packeted teas, flavoured tea and other exotic presentations and not be confined to bulk sales of tea. We have certainly made a considerable progress but require to keep pressing for increasing value-added tea products.
The increased production of tea is certainly a healthy sign, yet beneath these statistics are a number of fundamental problems which require to be solved if the tea industry to be a robust and viable one.


The increased production of tea in recent years as well as the good prices fetched for tea should not make us think that all is good in the tea industry. The tea industry requires to be sensitive to its inherent problems and must respond to the future possibilities and emerging difficulties that the industry may face.
We know that some of the problems are beyond the immediate control of the minister.


It is most unfortunate t hat since t he privatisation of the plantations, agriculture and in this instance, tea did not receive the attention it deserved from the respective governments in power. The tea industry lacked the necessary direction and drifted without a proper development plan, preordained to failure. Politics had a strangle hold on the plantation sector with the result no proper long-term planning was possible.


My personal opinion is - if I ratify the present Plantations Minister Kiriella’s declaration made 12 years ago as the then Plantation Minister, it is still valid to be implemented for a revolutionary viable transformation in the plantation sector.We may, therefore, say with Arthur Wing Pinero, “While there is Tea, there is hope.”