Tea Gone Bitter
- Volatility In The ME
In the backdrop of the volatility facing the Middle East (ME), Sri Lanka’s largest export market for tea region wise, a representative from the tea promotions board said that innovation and branding were the way forward.
Hasitha de Alwis, Director Promotions, Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB), addressing reporters on Wednesday (August 28) said that Syria, Sri Lanka’s third largest export market was at war, while three other Middle Eastern nations which he said was among the island’s top ten export destinations for tea, were also fractured.
Iran has been crippled by sanctions, bombs are going off in Iraq and Libya is yet to return to normalcy, he said.The occasion was to announce the annual National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) organised exporter awards which will be held later during this month.
SLTB is a sponsor of this event.
Meanwhile a virginal award made possible at this event due to the sponsorship of Nations Trust Bank plc is an award for innovation. Yet another sponsor of this event is Sampath Bank plc. Its Managing Director Aravinda Perera speaking on the occasion said that going by past performance, over 50% of the winners of this competition had been Sampath Bank customers.
He said that future sponsorship of this programme would depend on two things: The growth of this competition and transparency in the judging criteria. He said that going by the number of entries, it was visible that this awards scheme has been growing over the years. Perera said that Sampath has been a sponsor of this annual event for over 10 years. (PA)
