Sri Lanka debates future of tea industry as headwinds remain
Sri Lanka's Tea Exporters Association gathered to discuss some of the underlying issues facing the industry, such as increased costs of production and lessening international demand for Ceylon tea. One of the main challenges that the country faces is the inability to meet growing demand for extremely low priced produce such as from Kenya or Vietnam. Sri Lanka is also facing decreasing demand due to changing tastes and young people turning away from the beverage. Finally, experts discussed the need to radically rethink the way the industry works. They suggested creating a $1 billion fund to create a Sri Lankan multinational to rival Unilever and Tata. They also advocated the idea of marketing Sri Lanka as a global tea hub and creating favorable conditions for importing, exporting and blending.