Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-10-18

Developing an IT Backbone for the Tea Industry - Sri Lanka Tea Board

- Although Sri Lanka Tea fetches a high price in the world market due to its its unparalleled characteristics, the profitability in the tea industry is gradually declining as a result of rising production costs and depressed prices of goods at global level. Under these circumstances, it is essential to apply high quality standards to ensure the future of Tea exports of Sri Lanka. To this end, the Sri Lanka Tea Board monitors each and every stage of the process from plucking of tea leaves to the manufacturing, transporting, auctioning, quality controlling, blending and packing up to exportation. Therefore, with a view to making these activities, which are presently based on documents, more efficient, the proposal made by Hon. Navin Dissanayake, the Minister of Plantation Industries, to develop an IT Backbone, at an estimated cost of Rs.220 million, was approved by the Cabinet.