The Russian Aeroflot issue has not had any negative impact on the Sri Lanka tea exports nor the Tea Auction prices so far, tea stakeholders said.
Chairman, Colombo Tea Broker’s Association Niraj De Mel said that there is no negative impact from the Russian aircraft issue to tea exports so far. “We thank the Sri Lankan Government and other decision makers
for rising quickly to settle this issue before it went out of hand.”
He said that Russia is the third largest buyer of Sri Lankan tea after Iraq and Turkey and value wise they offer the highest, (Rs.886 per kg from Russia Vs around Rs.680 from Turkey and Iraq) and losing this would be a major disaster to the Sri Lankan tea sector. Russia currently also maintains a zero tax on Ceylon tea imports. Mercantile Produce Tea Brokers Director Ishan Goonatileke said that at yesterday’s tea auction there was no major negative impact to the sales due to the Russian issue. “We expect this trend to continue.”
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